


Evermore

by Random_Inked_Thoughts



Series: Evermore AU [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, High School, M/M, Slow Burn, hopefully lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:35:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 24
Words: 50,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23976832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_Inked_Thoughts/pseuds/Random_Inked_Thoughts
Summary: Ah yes, another High School AU. :)Roman Prince is enjoying high school, that much is clear. He has a great group of friends, he keeps his grades fairly steady, and he's just been cast as one of the lead roles in an upcoming play. However, none of that stops his entire world from being turned upside down the moment the new kid walks through the door to his third block.Remus and Logan have been tiptoeing around one another for years now and have liked each other probably twice as long as that, but if you ask either one of them they'll deny it. The real way to tell is to just watch the way they look at one another when they think they're being sneaky about it instead, and make your assumptions based off of that.(A slow burn Roceit b/c I want to dangit and also Intrulogical because why not lol)
Relationships: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Series: Evermore AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1797988
Comments: 210
Kudos: 290





	1. Welcome (to the black parade)

**Author's Note:**

> Heads up this chapter will probably (scratch that definitely) spoil some stuff from "Putting Others First" so if you haven't seen it yet, stop please!! I don't want to spoil anything for you! If you're coming here after watching and weeping your eyes out, welcome, here's something I felt I had to get down "on paper" after watching the episode.

“So,” Roman said, biting into an apple almost the same shade as his jacket. “I hear we have a new cast member.” The gang was situated on their usual lunch bench, hidden in the corner of the bustling cafeteria of their school and thus the least likely to be targeted by any wandering eyes.

“And crew,” Virgil said quietly, looking up from his own lunch to make eye contact with the louder boy. Being the head of the makeup and costume department, he tended to know everything that was going on with the rest of the crew, and even the cast. He was a treasure trove of secrets. “He’ll be assisting me and the rest of my team.” 

“That’s right,” Logan smiled, adjusting his blue polo shirt and running his fingers through his hair. “I tried to convince him to join tech as well, seeing as he was so open to being a part of both sides of the performance, however he turned me down.” 

“Darn, we could really use another person moving pieces around too,” Patton said from next to him, grinning as he bit into his peanut butter and jelly sandwich without crusts and spilling some on his light blue hoodie. “That’s just too bad. What part is he playing then?”

“Apparently, he’s going to be Roman’s new understudy,” Virgil said, passing Patton a napkin absentmindedly. “They told me his mock audition went really well, but since casting already happened... That’s the price of switching schools halfway through the year.” 

Roman himself let out a gasp at that, and Virgil sent a small smirk his way. “What, worried that someone will take your precious disney prince role from you?” He mocked. 

“I don’t think we can exactly qualify Roman’s character as a ‘prince’,” Logan pointed out, pushing his square glasses frames up the bridge of his nose. “He’s not very… princely.” 

Roman bristled for a moment before settling. “Fair enough, you can’t argue with that.” He was playing Gaston in their school’s production of Beauty and the Beast, and while he was very excited to have such a role that allowed him to show off his skills, (and muscles) he was a little dubious about the casting. After all, he wasn’t a villain! 

“Hey, it could be worse,” Virgil pointed out. “At least you don’t have to wear the giant…” he motioned with his hands as he grappled for the word. 

“Fursuit?” Remus had made his entrance, his grin stretched just a little too wide for his face. 

Virgil just sighed. “Sure.” 

“Hi Remus!” Patton smiled, waving at him from Virgil’s side. 

“What’s new, dorks?” Remus said, slapping his lunch tray on the table next to Logan and sliding into the seat with a grace that he only seemed to possess in sporadic bursts. “Did you know that male honeybees can’t ejaculate without killing themselves?” 

Patton choked on his sandwich.

“We’re talking about the new cast member,” Logan informed him, passing up the gross fact with nothing more than a small smirk of acknowledgement. “Since none of us have met him and I hear he’s Roman’s understudy, we’re all… intrigued, to say the least.” 

Remus nodded, face suddenly serious. “Yeah there are a couple things you should know first,” he said. 

The rest of the table stared at him.

“I met the guy, he’s in my second block. He’s extra particular about his name, for one.” Remus said.” 

“I’m sure it can’t be that bad!” Patton said cheerfully. 

“His name is Janus.” 

Roman squinted. “Like… our librarian?” 

“No you idiot,” Virgil snickered. “Like the god of choices. Basic mythology, you’d think more people would recognize that.”

“You’d think that more people would learn when to keep their geeky mouths shut,” Roman fired back, sticking his tongue out at Virgil playfully. 

“Oh,  _ I’m _ the geek, that’s rich.” 

“You’re principal violin!” Roman said, matter of fact. “And you’re into mythology and Star Wars and Sylvia Plath poetry!” 

“And I’m on the track team,” Virgil protested. “That’s athletic.” 

“I never said that being a geek was bad,” Roman said quietly. 

Remus rolled his eyes. “Anywho, about our newest member-” The lunch bell interrupted him, and there the usual frantic scramble of a couple hundred students clamouring over one another to exit the cafeteria as quickly as possible. 

“What?” Logan said, as Remus’ words were lost in the background noise. 

Remus just shook his head. “I’ll tell you guys at rehearsal later,” he said, voice raised to be heard over the noise. “Later, losers!” And then he was gone, and you couldn’t even see the vibrant green streak in Roman’s gremlin of a brother’s hair anymore. Beside him, Logan let out a little sigh, practically unnoticeable in the hustle and bustle of the cafeteria. However, Roman saw the slight sag in his best friend’s shoulders. Rolling his eyes, he bumped his side against Logan’s.    
  
“C’mon dude, we’re gonna be late for class,” Roman said quietly to him, and Logan nodded in acknowledgement, though his eyes were far away. Roman had a hunch they were still searching for Remus.

“Bye kiddos!” Patton said cheerfully, grabbing Virgil’s shoulders. “We’d best be off as well. Wouldn’t want to be late!” The two of them turned to walk away. 

Roman and Logan had been friends since they were children, and their relationship clearly reflected such. They were rarely apart, and while Logan often preferred more strenuous academic activities to Roman’s strenuous physical ones, Roman was the first one to volunteer to quiz Logan with his new flashcards and Logan had pulled an all nighter the day Roman announced he was trying out for the football team just to “study up” so he could better understand what about the sport fascinated his friend. He had ended up arguing with the refs from the stands when they gave a bad call, but the sentiment was sweet nonetheless. So, obviously they were usually very good at talking about their feelings with one another. 

“You need to just say that you like him,” Roman said loudly. 

“You shut your damn mouth!” Logan hissed out in response, beating him over the head with his novel. Luckily, it was softcover. 

Or maybe they weren’t as good at this part as Roman thought they were. 

“Come on Lo, it’s getting ridiculous,” He said, chuckling. “You need to just man up!” 

Logan’s face was the color of a tomato. “What I do with my feelings is my business.” His tone made it clear it was the end of the conversation. 

Roman just chuckled, opening the door to the classroom for him. Logan walked inside quickly with a muffled “thank you.” 

They sat down in their usual seats, in the front of the class where Logan had wanted to be, but off to the left and further away from the teacher, as Roman had hoped would be optimal to pass notes and goof off just a little bit. They were also lucky enough to be the only ones at their “pod” of tables, since the rest of the school was unbearably cliquey. 

“Good afternoon, class,” their teacher, a stout little woman with the emotional capacity of a squirrel said. Her tone never fluctuated. Roman could feel his eyes sagging already. 

“Good afternoon, Mrs Smith,” The rest of the class said, equally monotone. 

“We appear to have a new student,” Mrs Smith explained, barely able to be heard over the air conditioning system. “He’s just finally getting situated in his classes.” She gestured to her left, where a thin boy in a black T-shirt stood, looking at the ground and away from them. “Would you like to introduce yourself to the class, Mr Devon?” 

Roman squinted at the boy. His face was angled slightly away from them, so he could only really make out that he had high cheekbones and brown eyes. They appeared to be roughly the same shade as his hair. 

“Hi, I’m Janus Devon,” he said quietly, and Roman silently thanked Logan for forcing him to sit in the front of the room. He could barely make out what he was saying as it was, and if the kid talked any quieter, he would have had to read his lips. Janus bit his lip then, unsure of how to proceed under the harsh stares of his fellow classmates. 

The right side of his face was scarred, Roman noticed. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a girl in their class lean over and whisper in her friend’s ear, their eyes locked on the new boy’s face. They both giggled, and Roman felt himself frown as Janus seemed to try and turn his face further away from the class. 

“Oh, Janus will need a place to sit,” their teacher said, waving her hand absentmindedly. “Anyone?” 

There was silence as most of the other students stared at their shoes like they were suddenly the most interesting things in the world. Janus did a kind of accepting half-nod. 

“Here, he can sit with us,” Roman said loudly, awkwardly clearing his voice and adjusting his volume as the new kid jumped. “We have the space anyway,” he said with a small smile. 

Janus shot a relieved look in his direction before scooping up his backpack and power walking to their table. He put his stuff down at one of the desks across from Logan and Roman’s. 

“Great, since that’s settled, let’s all get out our computers and start on the interactive webquest,” Mrs Smith said. “You’re allowed to work in your groups as long as someone writes your name on the work.” 

Logan rolled his eyes. “I’ve already done the webquest,” he said. “She sent us an email with it included during second block and I finished it in approximately twelve minutes.” 

“Darn,” Roman commented. “I probably just won’t do it then, health’s a joke anyway.” He laughed a little, awkwardly aware of the boy across from them sitting rigidly in his seat as though held up by invisible strings. Roman bit the inside of his cheek thoughtfully.

“Never fear, I made sure to add your name as well before I submitted it, she had the directions written at the top,” Logan said, adjusting his glasses smugly.

“You’re a lifesaver Lo, I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Roman said, before turning to Janus. “So, welcome to the table.” He gave him his most welcoming smile, or at least tried his best. “Are you enjoying your time here so far?” 

“I didn’t think juniors had to take health,” Janus said quietly, looking questioningly at Roman. 

“Our whole class switched around what years we would be doing health for some reason,” Roman rolled his eyes. “It was stupid, but here we are, so…” he shrugged. 

Janus smiled awkwardly in that way that showed he didn’t really want to be there. “Logan, right?” He said, turning to look at Logan. “We met earlier, you were at my mock audition.”

“Indeed I was,” Logan said with a comforting smile. “My offer still stands, of course.”   
  
Janus just chuckled. “I think I’ll have my hands full with all the cast and crew stuff, but thanks for the kind offer.” Then a flash of gratitude crossed his face. “Oh, and for letting me sit with you guys. The only person who’s been any kind of nice to me other than you guys today was some guy named Remus Prince.” 

“I’m familiar,” Roman said, rolling his eyes. 

“Oh,” Janus winced. “Is he part of the wrong crowd, or...” 

“Much worse,” Roman said gravely. “My brother.” 

There was a brief silence, then Janus broke out laughing. He had the cutest laugh, a small chuckle that was just a little bit deeper than his speaking voice. Roman couldn’t help but smile. He didn’t know how to continue the conversation, he only knew that he had to. “He told us about you at lunch, said you were nice.” 

The chuckling stopped. If he didn’t know better, Roman would have said that Janus looked almost suspicious. “Is that all he said?” Almost self consciously, his hand drifted to the side of his face. 

“That’s all that I remember caring about,” Roman said, and if he were a bolder man he would have reached out and taken Janus’ smaller hand in his own. 

The tentative smile he received in response might as well have been solid gold. 


	2. Nice Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back with another chapter lol. 
> 
> I would like to preface this chapter (as well as the rest of the story) by saying that with this story including Remus, he's gonna say some generally icky stuff. I know I tagged him earlier, but this is the "point of no return" so to speak. However, this is giving me an excuse to look up gross facts, and some of the articles I'm pulling this stuff from are really cool! Anywho, watch out for him if you're super easily icked out :)
> 
> With that being said, enjoy the story!

Roman’s phone went off halfway through fourth block. Jumping like he’d been shot, he fumbled around in his back pocket and switched the ringer off as quickly as he could. His teacher gave him that look that made him feel like a piece of gum stuck to their shoe, and with a mumbled apology of “Sorry, Mx Joan,” Roman felt his attention slide off of him and back to whatever history mumbo jumbo was on the board. Virgil winced from his assigned seat across the room. 

It was from Remus, sent to their group chat. 

_ Trash Man (Remus): Hey hey hey guess what _

_ Trash Man (Remus): Didja know the shyer a crab is the greater quantities of sperm it can ejaculate? :D _

Roman had to stifle a sigh. At least whatever this strange conversation was seemed more interesting than the Industrial Revolution.  __

_ Dad (Patton): ...why T-T _

_ Big Brain (Logan): Well,  _ _ crabs with more hemocyanin do have better aerobic endurance. And more cautious crabs statistically have bigger spermatophores. _

_ Trash Man (Remus): :D _

_ Stormcloud (Virgil): I’m not even going to ask why you know something like that, Logan. _

_ Dad (Patton): Omg no I wasn’t asking you to explain! I meant why would you say something so horrible!?  _

Roman decided to weigh in for a moment.

_ Princey (Roman): Because he thinks it’s fun.  _

_ Stormcloud (Virgil): Thanks, I hate it.  _

Roman rolled his eyes fondly and looked back up, making eye contact with Virgil from across the room. Virgil scrunched up his nose and stuck out his tongue, and Roman grinned. 

The bell couldn’t ring quickly enough, and almost the moment it did, Roman was vaulting out of his seat. He and Virgil left the room in tandem, their strides even for only a moment, before Virgil’s freakishly long legs began to give him the advantage. 

Roman quickened his pace as he listened in on Virgil’s assessment of the lecture. Virgil was an energetic talker when he got going, and he talked with his hands. That being said, Virgil loved history almost as much as Roman loved getting to leave history. He tried to keep up with his friend’s train of thought, as well as his friend’s pace. “I hate being short,” he muttered under his breath. Virgil chuckled.   
  
They made quite a pair, the two of them. Virgil was tall and lanky and pale, pale white. He looked like he was built to run. When he pulled his dark hair back to do makeup you could see he had purple streaks in his hair, and he often wore some form of makeup himself, even if it was only eyeliner. He dressed in all blacks, and his eyes were startling green. Meanwhile, Roman was shorter with broader shoulders and more muscular arms. His almond skin was usually covered with any manner of red tones, and his clothing was as bright as his personality. They looked like they came from separate worlds. 

The auditorium was already bustling with activity when they got there, and they dropped their stuff in the front row as per usual, next to Patton’s, Remus’ and Logan’s bags. 

Virgil took out a hair tie and began to comb a couple of stray hairs back with his free hand absentmindedly. Roman took the time to just close his eyes and absorb the environment. He loved it here, with it’s old fashioned look. It was the oldest part of their school, and there was a certain sense of style that came with the high ceilings and dated paint scheme, and that seemed to resonate throughout the room around them. 

Patton kissed Virgil and then on the cheek absentmindedly as he passed them, then resumed his search for whatever prop or set piece had inevitably gone missing that day. Logan followed not far behind them, already wearing a headset, and he nodded in their direction before he continued instructing the people in the soundbox above them. Remus was onstage doing cartwheels while one of the freshmen on the makeup and costume crew tried desperately to get his attention, presumably so that she could measure where to put the horns she was holding on his costume. All of this was going on and their director wasn’t even here yet. Roman smiled. 

It was only a moment later when he walked through the door. Mr Sanders had been one of the teachers in charge of their school’s theatre for as long as anyone could remember, though he still looked quite young. Everyone more or less stopped where they stood as he walked in, a big smile on his face. “You’re all so eager to start, and we’ve only just begun,” he said with a laugh. “This must be our second… third rehearsal!” 

  
There was some scattered laughing. It was their second play of the year, so everyone who had recently hopped on board more or less knew what they were doing by now. 

“Alright then, you know the drill! Role call, then I’ll let you busy bees get back to work,” he said. “Deal?”

Roman was more or less half asleep until he heard Mr Sanders call out “Janus Devon?” 

“Here.” 

Roman’s gaze snapped to the back of the room, where Janus appeared to be trying to disappear into the darkness behind him. 

“Welcome to the club,” Mr Sanders said with a smile, before calling out “Patton Heart?” 

“Right here!” 

Rehearsal was a blur of lights and movement and choreography. Roman did all of it with a smile on his face, but every now and then he’d catch a glimpse of the hazel and honey eyes that belonged to a certain someone and his heart would skip a beat. Every time he saw him, Janus was by himself, reviewing the script while other scenes were running, sitting off to the side and observing, or just doing his best to duck out of conversations. Roman pursed his lips. That wouldn’t do at all. 

As they were wrapping up the last of the rehearsal and Mr Sanders was just calling a couple of people over for last minute things, Roman walked over to his friends, who were beginning to pack up their stuff. 

Virgil flashed a peace sign at him. “Yo.” 

“So, I was thinking,” Roman said, charging into the conversation, “I know we always go out for drinks after rehearsal…”

“That statement is correct.” Logan looked mildly amused. 

“Well, I was thinking… I know it’s usually only us, but what if we invited that new kid to go with us?” Roman said hopefully. “I mean, it must be hard not having any friends, and he seems nice enough.” He waited for their reactions. 

“Go for it, asshole,” Remus said from his spot on the floor cross legged. He was also barefoot, and Roman spared himself a moment to wonder where his shoes had disappeared to. Oh well, they always showed up eventually. Remus had ended up with only a slightly lighter skin tone than Roman, and he stretched his lean arms up to the ceiling as he yawned. Though he didn’t look it, Remus was almost as strong as Roman. 

Behind them, Logan swallowed. 

“Yeah dude, that seems like it would be cool,” Virgil agreed, and Patton chimed in with an “Aww, what a sweet idea, kiddo!” 

Roman nodded his thanks and turned away, making for Janus’ corner as quickly as he could. He sized the boy up as he walked in his direction. Skinny and short, and looking a little nervous. Roman put on his friendliest smile. “Hey Janus!” 

The boy had seen him coming, but he still jumped at Roman’s words. “Hi,” he said back, clearly trying to decipher what this was about. 

“So,” Roman said, realizing he had no idea how to invite him. “First day of rehearsal for you, huh?”

Janus nodded hesitantly. “Yeah, everyone here seems really welcoming. 

Roman beamed. “Well then, I hope I seem extra welcoming when I invite you out for drinks with me and my friends now.” 

Janus’ eyes flicked over to where Logan, Remus, Patton, and Virgil were standing, the four obviously in the middle of a heated conversation. A small smile flickered across his face. “You do indeed,” he said, dipping his head slightly. 

“So?” Roman said eagerly, trying and failing miserably not to seem too over excited at the prospect. 

Janus tapped his fingers against the wall thoughtfully. “I suppose I can take some time out of my busy schedule.” 

“Yes!” Roman said, pumping his fist in the air before he remembered that Janus was still standing in front of him. With a nervous laugh, he gestured in the direction of the group. “Come on, follow me.” 

They went to the nearest Starbucks, helpfully just down the street from their school. There were usually a couple high schoolers there no matter what time of day it was, but the round booth in the back was open as per usual, only available for parties of five or more. Roman and his friends had been coming here for years.

“So, fun fact, mosquitoes actually use six different mouthparts to drink your blood,” Remus said with a large grin. 

Patton let out a low sound of distress, setting down his pastry. “Gross! Kiddo, where do you get all of these disgusting facts?” 

Remus’ face dropped for only a moment before he shrugged. “I just think they’re cool,” he said, more subdued than usual. 

“Never fear Patton, it would take approximately 1.1 million different mosquitoes to fully drain the blood of a living breathing human,” Logan commented offhand, sipping from his galaxy frappuccino delicately. Roman could have sworn he saw hearts in Remus’ eyes, as his brother’s entire face lit up. “Besides,” he continued, “only the females need to bite you to survive, the males sustain themselves on a diet consisting mainly of plant nectar and sap.” 

“Huh,” Virgil responded, changing the topic. “So, Janus, how have you been adjusting?” 

Janus shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. “Most people have been… well, people. The classes seem interesting at least, most of your teachers are a little more engaged than my old teachers were.” 

“That’s a shocker, I didn’t think anyone could be less engaged than our junior year teachers,” Virgil said cynically. “Why did you switch schools?” 

“I had to when we moved,” Janus said, eyes flicking down to rest on the worn table below them. “We used to live further south of here.” He gestured in the general direction of the south.

“Oh, that makes sense.” Patton chuckled to himself. “Why’d y’all move? It’s so nice down south, with the heat and the… sun.” Patton was being nosy, and Roman kicked him under the table. 

If Janus was feeling awkward before, it was nothing compared to what he was clearly feeling now. He was staring at his fingernails, and his drink sat next to him, untouched. “There was a fire,” he said quietly. 

“Oh!” Remus said loudly, and everyone at the table jumped a little bit. “Is that why your face is all jacked up?” 

Logan physically put his head in his hands. “Remus, not cool!” Virgil barked out, at the same time as Patton let out an almost comically horrified gasp. 

Roman shot his brother a  _ look _ , turning back to Janus, an apology already on the tip of his tongue. He had gotten good at explaining away Remus’ comments over the years, and usually no one stayed offended for too long.

But Janus was laughing. 

“Are you okay?” Roman asked him softly. “He didn’t mean it, I’m so sorry. Sometimes he just…” Roman made a vague hand motion.

Janus just kept laughing. “I think that’s the most upfront anyone has ever been when they asked me,” he wheezed out. “I’m sorry, most people are a lot less bold. No, it wasn’t the fire, though that's what most people assume, and it’s not scarring on my face, it’s hyperpigmentation.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! I'm trying to make this fairly immersive and whatnot, but I'm not sure how well I'm doing. 
> 
> Hope y'all stay safe and have a great day! :)


	3. [Insert Title Name Here]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have been saying so many nice things and I just want to say that it literally means the world to me tysm everyone T-T
> 
> This chapter is stupiddddd and not as funny as I think it is but I had a good time writing it lol

Logan’s eyes lit up. “Fascinating!”

Janus just smirked a little. “Yeah, I guess, if that kind of stuff interests you. I also have heterochromia, hence the slightly differently colored eyes.” 

Roman was still caught up on the  hyperpigmentation. “Wait a sec, what’s…” he trailed off. 

“Hyperpigmentation is most commonly described as darker patches of skin caused as a result of excess melanin production, sometimes following scarring, sun damage, or irregular hormonal levels. It is also possible to be passed on through genetic means, where the spots will show up while the subject is a small child and can grow and darken with age,” Logan said in a single breath. 

Janus just nodded. “I’ve been like this since before I can remember.” 

“I’m so sorry,” Patton said, frowning a little bit. 

“No,” Janus said, mirroring his frown. “Don’t apologize. I’m perfectly happy with myself the way that I am, this is just another part of me. There’s nothing to apologize for.”

Patton flushed. 

“I for one think they look sick as hell,” Remus commented, chewing with his mouth open. Logan reached over and very slowly closed his jaw. Remus stuck his tongue out at him. 

“Thanks,” Janus said casually. Clearly, this was nothing like how he expected this conversation to go. 

“So, what are we thinking about the new piece we have to play in orchestra?” Virgil asked, cutting into the newfound silence. 

Patton, who played the cello, groaned loudly. “It’s  _ unbearable,  _ Virgil. We have to play pizzicato the entire time. The same two notes over and over and over and-” 

“Oh, you think you have it bad?” Virgil grinned at him. “We got stuck with the melody! You want to talk ‘unbearable’? Cause I’m pretty sure the sheet music in my bag is...” 

And around then was the time that Roman, try as he may, began to tune his friends out. It wasn’t intentional, he just didn’t play an instrument. Virgil and Patton had met through orchestra, and when Patton had introduced him to the group, he seemed like an instant click, the somewhat anxious boy opening up to them quickly and quickly catching himself up on all the inside jokes. 

Roman looked to Janus, who was listening very intently to Virgil and Patton’s back and forth, a small smile tugging on the corners of his mouth. Catching Roman’s stare, his smirk grew into a genuine smile. “I love classical music,” he said with a small shrug. “Sue me.” 

Roman smiled back at him. “Virgil’s about the least classical musician you’ve met,” he warned him jokingly, “He’s more likely to play some anime theme song than whatever pieces they’re currently rehearsing.” 

“And I’ve still managed to still climb to first chair while maintaining my light obsession, what’s your point?” Virgil shot back with a grin.

Roman raised his hands in surrender, resisting the urge to stick out his tongue at his friend. 

Remus was talkative the entire drive home, and as per usual, he talked with his hands. This would have been a bit less of an issue for everyone if he wasn’t the one driving the car. 

“Keep your eyes on the road!” Patton shrieked again as he covered his eyes, face buried in Virgil’s side. Virgil wasn’t doing much better, he was completely frozen in place. If Roman hadn’t seen him blinking he would have assumed his friend had been replaced with a large chunk of carved stone. 

“Is he always like this?” Janus said, nearly landing on Roman’s lap after a particularly bad turn. “I thought you would drive us both ways!” 

“I usually drive,” Roman explained through clenched teeth, “But Remus finally got his license last week and has been itching to drive the van.” His knuckles were white as he gripped the side of the car door. “Something tells me we won’t be letting him drive again any time soon though.” 

“Oh wow, I can’t imagine why!” Janus’ voice was borderline hysterical. “How many times did he fail his exam, eighty?” 

“No, only twice,” Roman said sheepishly. From the look on Janus’ face, that was clearly the incorrect answer. He winced and let out a nervous chuckle. After a moment, Janus joined him, sounding only a little pained. “I’m sorry, I’ll never let him drive us anywhere ever again. I swear he was better when it was just us and Mom.” 

“Please, we’re fine!” Remus said, flipping someone off as he cut in front of them. “Only around three thousand people per day die in car accidents!” He honked the horn loudly for no apparent reason.

“That’s the equivalent of roughly one point three million car accident related deaths per year,” Logan protested quietly from his seat up front, tentatively reaching out and pulling the steering wheel a little bit to the right and pulling their car back into the lane. “And statistically, teens are ten times more likely to crash than adults.” 

“I can’t believe I’m going to die like this,” Virgil muttered. 

They didn’t die, but Roman was pretty sure there was more than one close call. They dropped off Patton first, as per usual. His house was the furthest away. He stepped out of the car with slightly shaky legs and wished them all a goodbye. “I’ll see you in the morning?” he asked. 

“We’ll be there at 6:30,” Roman promised. “And I’ll drive.”

Patton laughed and nodded his thanks, and with that he was off, up the stepping stone path to his little blue house. 

Virgil lived about two blocks away from Patton, so they let him off next, leaving large skid marks in front of his driveway as Remus attempted to ignore the law of inertia. Virgil slid neatly out of the back seat, standing there on the solid ground and letting his head stop spinning for a moment. “See you guys tomorrow.” He flashed one last peace sign before putting his headphones on and slouching in the direction of his house, older than Pattons, with dark vines creeping up the sides. 

“So Janus, where do you live?” Roman asked him nonchilantly. 

Janus turned to look at him, surprise on his face. Clearly Roman had pulled him out of his thoughts. “Oh, what about Logan?” he asked, with what almost seemed to sound like hope in his voice. Maybe Roman’s brain was just playing tricks on him.    
  
“Logan lives right across the street from us, so we always drop him off last,” Remus said, glancing over at Logan fondly. “He’s been dragged around with us against his will for years now, he’s used to it.” 

“Oh, right.” Janus gave him the directions. Remus nodded throughout the entire description, then turned back to him. “I have absolutely no idea what you just said, I zoned out for most of that.” 

“Take a left at the next stop sign,” Logan told him. 

“See, that’s why you’re the best, Logan, you’re so good at everything, even remembering directions,” Remus commented. Logan turned to look out the window, a small flush covering his cheeks. 

Janus, clearly a perceptive one, glanced over at Roman and exchanged a smirk with him.

\-----

Roman’s alarm was loud. It cut through the blissful silence of sleep like a knife through butter, and he mumbled a couple choice profanities as he slid out of bed, smacking the alarm with the contempt that could only be mustered from one ripped out of a peaceful nothingness. Roman heard a door slam, and he figured that Remus was already in the joint bathroom that separated their rooms. 

He was lucky enough that their mother let him relocate to a seperate room from his brother when they got old enough that space became an issue, though their rooms still both opened into the same bathroom. Sharing a bathroom was a small price to pay for being spared from Remus’ sleep talking. 

Blinking drearily, Roman slid open his door to the bathroom to find Remus already there, applying his makeup. Roman grabbed his toothbrush, glancing over at his brother absentmindedly. It was then that he noticed what Remus was doing.    
  
“Wow, are these the fabled other colors of eyeshadow that you possess?” he said jokingly. Remus was applying the blue eyeshadow with precision generally unseen at 5:30 AM. “Usually you just go with the purple.” 

Remus shrugged defensively. “I thought the blue would look better with the green streak,” he said. 

Roman took a moment to look his brother over. “It’s a good look,” he said, “I think. I wouldn’t trust my brain this early in the morning.” 

Remus just nodded, finishing his makeup and closing the palette, leaving the bathroom to allow Roman to brush his teeth and shower in peace. When Roman emerged, he was getting dangerously close to being behind schedule. Quickly, he threw on a random t-shirt advertising one of his past plays, and shrugged on his varsity jacket over that. He had quit football at the end of last year when it came down to that or theatre, but the jacket was way too nice not to wear. 

He found that Logan was already in the kitchen when he walked downstairs, chatting with Remus and taking small bites from a piece of toast. “Morning,” his friend said, smiling. 

Roman blinked. “You’re in a good mood today,” he commented. Logan didn’t usually acknowledge anyone until they had pulled through the drive through and deposited his coffee into his waiting arms.

Logan just shrugged. 

“Eh, first time for everything I suppose.” Roman snagged the car keys from their ring next to the door. “We ready to go?” 

They drove through Dunkin Doughnuts first. Logan, sitting shogun as he usually did, leaned over Roman and recited the orders he kept committed to memory into the speaker. When the drive thru employee passed them their four drinks and a pastry, Roman paid him in a smattering of crisp, clean bills, (Logan’s) and rumpled singles (Remus’). Since he was paying for gas, the others covered his order as per usual. The drive thru employee stared at the smattering of change in his hand and sighed deeply. 

Their next stop was Virgil, who happened to live closer to the Dunkin than Patton did. Pulling into his driveway smoothly, they only had to wait a moment for their shadowling Hot Topic poser boy of a friend opened the door. His trademark headphones already covering his ears, Virgil practically skipped down to them and into the car, plucking his coffee out of Remus’ waiting hands. Virgil was one of those suspicious people that didn’t really ever sleep when he was supposed to but also never felt tired in the morning. Roman was very rarely certain he was completely human. 

Patton handled mornings in his own strange way. When they pulled up, he meandered down the steps, bringing up a sweater paw to cover his little yawn, and let himself into the car with a sleepy smile and a “Good morning, kiddos.” He accepted the pastry that was passed to him, and mumbled, “How much do I owe you?” 

Roman chuckled. “We’ll figure it out at the end of the week as usual, Popstar,” he responded. “How did you sleep?” 

  
“Oh, fantastic,” Patton replied, leaning his head on the nearest shoulder, which happened to be Virgil’s. The fact was made only slightly comical by their severe height difference, with Patton’s head usually only coming up to Virgil’s shoulder, unless he was wearing heels. “I had the most lovely dream.” 

“I dreamed we were dissecting a cat in biology,” Remus contributed. 

They pulled into a pretty good spot, close enough to the school that it wouldn’t be an unreasonable walk. “Where to, happy people?” Patton said in that chipper way that told them all he was pretty much awake. 

“I’m headed to AP bio,” Remus said, and Logan nodded. 

“I as well will be headed in that direction.”

And the two of them walked off, seemingly already deep in conversation.

“Patton and I have had Orchestra first block for approximately… forever,” Virgil said with a shrug. “You guys know the drill by now.” They turned away, breaking off from the group as well. “I’ll see you in fourth, Roman.” 

  
Roman just wrinkled his nose. “I guess I’m off to pre-calc then,” he said to no one in particular. Sighing and putting his earbuds in, he turned down the hall in the opposite direction of Patton and Virgil. The opening notes to  _ Tale as Old as Time  _ graced his ears, and Roman let them sink in as he walked, lost in thought. If he was maybe just a little bit more engaged in his surroundings, maybe he would have seen it coming. 


	4. Snake Eyes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapter titles are the stupidest names I could come up with. 
> 
> I promise I won't type out every single day, but I did write them out each their own nifty schedules and what classes they have what blocks, so I do flaunt that a little bit in this chapter. I hope that doesn't take away from the story too much. 
> 
> There was some discrepancy over the Critic's name, so I took what appeared to be the main two contenders and smashed them together.

The hands came out of nowhere, roughly shoving both of Roman’s shoulders and causing him to stumble back wildly, struggling to regain his balance. An acrobat he was not, and Roman fell on his butt. “Great heckity-heck, what in the world was that for?” Roman cried out, but the boy who shoved him just snorted at his word choice. 

It was then that Roman’s eyes flicked up and locked onto his assailants. “Oh shit.” 

Anton “Dice” Shora stood in front of him, hands on his hips and a sour look on his face. His trademark reflective shades propped up on his head, pushing his longish hair back. Behind him, his little brother Remy sipped from a Starbucks coffee cup, looking bored and texting on his phone. No one knew where he had gotten his nickname or his reputation, but at this point they were too afraid to ask. Dice had a short fuse and he usually had something negative to say about any topic on hand, whatever it may be. 

“What’s up, dude?” Roman attempted an easygoing grin as he tried to stand up, scrambling for any kind of friction on the smooth linoleum floor. He finally made it to his feet, and even with every bone in his body screaming at him to run, he held his ground. 

“ _ That’s _ for your brother,” Anton spat, then he pushed Roman against the locker behind him, not even wavering at the small hiss of pain that Roman let out. “And  _ that  _ was just because I don’t like your face.” 

Roman gave him a grim smile. “Well, if that’s all settled then…” he said, trailing off as he realized just how ballsy he sounded. He smiled once more at the senior, though it didn’t reach his eyes. 

Anton just nodded. “Yeah, we’re done here,” he said authoritatively. Roman breathed a quiet sigh of relief and turned on his heel, getting to class as quickly as he could. Math was boring, but then again, who wasn’t expecting that? However, his mind was racing. 

_ Roman: What did you do, Remus?? _

_ Remus: Depends who’s asking :) _

_ Roman: Dice just shoved me around the hallway to prove some kind of point to you _

_ Roman: Don’t play with me Remus _

If Roman had been there, he would have seen Remus’ face go white, and him bite his lip. Next to him, Logan reached out and touched his shoulder, concern flickering across his face. Remus just shook him off and tried to tune back into whatever their teacher was saying. 

_ Remus: Oh shit fuck bro _

_ Remus: Do I need to go beat someone up? _

Roman sighed.  _ I think you’ve done enough,  _ he typed.  _ Just tell me what you did.  _

_ Remus: He was picking on the new kid cause, ya know, his face, and I just told him to lay off, pick on someone his own size. That’s all, I swear!  _

_ Roman: Apparently he thought that person should be me. _

He didn’t get a response. Fair enough. Sighing again, he turned back to the teacher just in time to hear the bell ring. He would talk to his brother at lunch, figure it out. 

Voice class was his current second block. Unfortunately, he only had it for a quarter of the year, seeing as it was an elective, but he and Patton took the class together, so they always had a good time. They were working on duets in class, and since Patton and Roman had chosen theirs last class and rehearsed till they were blue in the face, they felt pretty confidant using this time to catch up on a little gossip. 

Patton doodled while he talked, a common occurrence. It wasn’t often that you found the shorter boy without ink stains on his hands and under his nails. 

“So what do you think of Janus?” Roman asked him hopefully, loud enough to be heard over the girls singing on the other side of the room but quietly enough that he could feel secure no one would be eavesdropping.    
  
“Honestly, kiddo? He seems pretty lonely,” Patton looked up from his sketch, pushing his rounded glasses up the bridge of his nose. Patton had freckles, a fact that Roman found himself jealous of every day. “I don’t think he’s had a ‘people’ before, if you know what I mean.” 

Roman frowned at that. “Well, we’re his friends now, whether he wants us or not.”

Patton sent a soft yet reproachful look his way, and he backtracked, hands up in defense. “You know what I mean.” Then he paused. “He does want to be friends with us too, right?” Hearing the slightly desperate undertone of the statement, he flushed. 

Patton was better than a lot of the others about stuff like this. He just had this calming presence around him that endeared people to him almost immediately, and he never judged or teased. While he and Roman hadn’t known each other as long as some of the others in the group, he much preferred discussing emotional or social concerns with Patton. The small boy was reassuring to be around. In fact, that was probably how he and Virgil got to be such good friends. “Of course I do, kiddo, who wouldn’t want to be friends with a cool dude like you?” Patton said. 

“Anton Shora,” Roman muttered, instantly regretting it when he saw the look on Patton’s face. 

“Ya know, kids like him need a little love sometimes too,” Patton said diplomatically. “But if he does anything nasty I will  _ physically fight him _ !”

Roman just chuckled a little bit. Patton was a bit like an angry puppy when he was upset. He would pout and simmer angrily for a couple hours, but he could never hold a grudge. He didn’t think the small boy could physically keep the anger in his body for very long. “A little late for that, Popstar,” he murmured. 

Patton looked shocked. “What did he do?” 

“It’s nothing,” Roman said, “I wasn’t looking where I was going and I bumped into him in the hallway, and he ended up getting mad about something Remus did to wrong him.” Roman shrugged, trying to play it off. “Remus has wronged so many people these days I don’t even try to keep track anymore.”

“Still!” Patton’s voice was shrill, a side effect of his particular brand of shock and anger. “That’s wrong! He should be ashamed of himself.” Patton nodded firmly. 

Roman just smiled endearingly at him. “I wish everyone had as strong an internal moral compass as you did, Patton. The world would be a lot nicer place.” Then he hastily changed the topic. “Wanna run this through one more time? We do have to present tomorrow after all.” He shook their sheet music in Patton’s direction, and he nodded eagerly. Patton’s voice was softer than Roman’s, and not as warm, but it was almost piercing, and when he sang anything in latin it left you with this haunting feeling you couldn’t quite explain, like you’d left something behind but couldn’t go back for it. Roman loved Patton’s voice, and he wished the small boy would be less timid about using it. 

The bell was a minute late, and when Roman and Patton got to the cafeteria, it was already packed. Luckily for them, Remus always managed to get to the cafeteria with somewhat inhuman speed, and he flagged them down. They were sitting at their usual table, and he and Logan appeared to be making some form of trebuchet out of the cafeteria utensils and rubber bands. 

“Hi guys!” Patton bounced over, plopping down on Virgil’s left, across the table from Remus and Logan. It was then that Roman realized Janus sitting to Virgil’s right. 

“Oh yeah, I brought him along, hope you don’t mind too much.” Remus sent him a shit eating grin. “He had nowhere else to eat.”

“Hi!” Roman said, sounding a little too excited for his own liking, a rare occurrence. Luckily, Janus grinned back at him.

“Hi.” 

  
Roman slid in next to his brother, still grinning a little too wide.

“Anyone want my fries?” Virgil offered, pushing his tray into the center of the table. “They’re gross and mushy and soft.” 

“Mmh, just the way I like them!” Remus grabbed them, shoving the poor excuse for potatoes in his mouth. Then he paused raising his eyebrows, clearly about to make some kind of joke. “Well…” 

Virgil made a face. “How can you stand to eat those? They’re barely food!” 

“Well,” Patton said, beginning to grin. “I think they come out pretty good on most  _ Fry-days _ !”

Virgil snickered.

“Oh for heaven’s sake,” Logan looked up from the trebuchet. “Deplorable.” 

“Aww, come on Logan, there’s no need to get upset over such a…  _ small fry issue _ !” 

Logan let out a sound that sounded a little bit like a choked back mixture of a laugh and a scream, letting his head hit the table. “He’s losing it,” Remus warned them, jokingly. Carefully, he stroked Logan’s dark hair, eyes widening as he mouthed ‘It’s so silky!’ over the top of Logan’s head. Janus had to stifle a laugh of his own. 

Roman turned to face his brother. “Hey Remus, can we talk for a moment?” He asked, acutely aware of the others focusing their attention on the twins. “I need to throw out my trash.”   
  
Remus sighed, running his fingers through his tousled hair. His fingertips were green too, Roman noticed, remembering his brother’s attempt at re-dyeing his highlights green again a couple of nights ago. “Sure.” He got up from the table, snagging an apple core from in front of Logan just so he had something to hold. 

“What’s this whole deal with Janus?” Roman asked as soon as they were out of earshot.    
  
Remus rolled his eyes. “Anton and his goons were being assholes, pushing him around, teasing him for his jacked up face,”

Roman winced. “I do wish you wouldn’t say it like that.” 

“Fine. Teasing him for his hyperpigmentation, and I butted in, since Janus apparently lacks a spine. Told them he was none of their business and to find someone else to pick on. They just sneered at me and told me to back off, that it ‘wasn’t my fight’.” Remus scowled. “It’s always my fight. Especially when any of you dorks are involved.” 

Roman just nodded, chucking his trash in the bin. Remus bounced the apple off the edge, but neither of them commented on it, and they walked back to the table, sliding in on either side of Logan, who seemingly had grown to fill available space. He scooted a little closer to Remus, and Roman shot him a knowing look. 

They walked to third block together, Logan Janus and him, and Logan hissed in his ear “Not a damn word, Prince.” 

“What? I think it’s cute! You know, I think he did his makeup for you this morning,” Roman said. 

Logan just flushed an even darker shade than before. “What did I say? Not a word.” 

“You want me to shut up about it forever?” Roman asked him. Janus looked over, not actively adding to the conversation but clearly invested. 

“That would be preferable,” Logan agreed. 

“Fine, on one condition.” Roman looked at him. 

Logan made a face. “I don’t need to accept conditions from you. Just stay out of it, since it’s none of your own business anyway. Don’t you have your own prince to pursue instead of badgering me?” 

Roman flushed. “Hey, don’t turn this one on me,” he said, deflecting the question but not missing the way Janus seemed to stiffen next to him. “One measly little condition, that’s all! And I’ll be off your back about it forever,” he promised, giving Logan his winning smile. 

“There’s no logical reason I should accept those terms,” Logan said, squinting his eyes suspiciously. The smile had lost its effect on Logan years ago, when Roman used it to convince the other boy to complete a color run with him. Logan had hated almost every second of it. 

“Fine, your loss,” Roman sighed. “I guess you’ll have to live with me tormenting you about it… forever.” He shrugged. “Since I know you would never in a million years confess that you feel anything at all, let alone to my asshole of a brother.” 

“Give him more credit than that,” Logan muttered. “He’s actually quite sweet.” 

Roman laughed loudly at that, rolling his eyes at Janus, “Yeah okay sure, whatever you say, nerd,” he said affectionately. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I had a few questions for you guys! Just wondering what y'all were thinking and what was on your mind about a couple of things, totally optional of course, I just love hearing what you think. :) 
> 
> 1) The Roceit/Intrulogical balance- how balanced should it be? I intended the Roceit to be a slow burn, but would it be better if I faded Logan and his issues a little more into the background? Alternatively, should I maybe follow Logan's day sometimes? I love Intrulogical and Roceit equally, but it just worked out that I wrote this from Roman's POV. JWhat ship are you primarily here to see lol? 
> 
> 2) Text chats- are they coming across okay? I removed their goofy names for this chapter, simply because I thought it would be a little easier to read, but I'm wondering how I was doing with that just generally 
> 
> 3) Anything else to add? Critiques or observations of plot hole thingies (not much plot atm but it's coming) or any constructive criticism? 
> 
> Thanks!! Hope you have a lovely day! :D


	5. Hypocritical

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really hesitant about posting this because I didn't feel it was up to par with the other chapters but I've looked at it so much that none of it looks like English anymore lol so I hope you enjoy.
> 
> (Thank you all so much for your various feedback about the last chapter, you guys are awesome!!)

Fridays were sleepover days, that had been decided many years ago, back when Roman and Remus were kids. School was the only part of the day between now and the time when they would all pile into Roman’s minivan, grab way too many snacks at the local dollar spot, and slide into the twins’ house on some sort of uncontrollable sugar high. Fridays were a day for friends. “Friendship Fridays,” as Patton liked to call them. He had made them all matching bracelets.    
  
Roman had woken up Friday practically vibrating with excitement. He had gotten Janus’ number the day before. Well, technically Logan had gotten the number, added it onto the group chat, and invited him to join them this Friday, but that was a technicality. Roman had sat next to him, trying not to vibrate off his chair with excitement the whole time. That had to count for something, right? 

_ Janus: My moms were wondering what time you guys wanted me picked up on Saturday _

_ Logan: It’s not that big of a concern to us, however, if for their benefit you would like to say 11:00 AM, that timing would be satisfactory and most likely to coincide with both Virgil and Patton’s departure.  _

_ Remus: Did you know that scientists have discovered an organism with a disappearing butt??  _

_   
_ _ Logan: Remus are you referring to comb jelly?  _

_ Remus: yah I wrote my paper for bio on them :) _

Roman looked over at his brother, who was staring at his phone with a smile on his face, and he chuckled. He didn’t think he had ever found anyone who could make Remus smile as easily as Logan did. It was kind of cute actually, when you muscled past the thick veil of brotherly “hatred” between them. In the end, he just wanted his brother to be happy. 

“Ready to go then, my belligerent bother of a brother?” Roman asked him, putting a little extra flair into his voice. 

Remus rolled his eyes. “Just lemme text Lo back one last time and then I’ll grab my stuff,” he said absentmindedly, the nickname slipping past his lips casually. 

“Lo?” Roman said, a wicked smile stretching across his face. “So I see you’ve graduated to nicknames now, huh?” 

“Shut up,” Remus said, pushing past him as he slipped his phone into his pocket, heading for the car. Then, quieter; “He seems to like it…” 

“Oh come on, why the deflection?” Roman pouted at his brother as he sensed a potential opportunity to play Cupid, giving him his best puppy dog eyes. “I’ve seen you making heart eyes at him, why are you shutting down? You can trust me!” 

Remus just kind of stopped for a moment, eyes calculating. His chaotic persona seemed to drop for a moment, and he sighed. “Okay fine, I’ll tell you. Maybe I’m being stupid, but still. I really,  _ really _ like him but he’s so freaking dense! I’ve been talking to Lo so much recently because I want to build up the courage to maybe ask him out or something... he’s the first person I ever thought I could possibly,” Remus stopped for a moment, hesitant, “actually see myself having a future with.” 

Roman gaped at his brother. Out of all of the answers he was expecting from Remus, that was most certainly not top of the list. Hell, it wasn’t even on the list! He knew that his brother was about the least romantically inclined person he’d ever met, and while he knew that Logan had some strange fascination with his brother, it completely blindsided him that it appeared mutual. “You really… like him?” he managed to get out, wishing his voice would sound a little less incredulous. 

“It’s whatever, just drop it,” Remus said, shaking his head as he got into the car. His cheeks were bright red. Roman noted that Logan was walking across the street to meet them now, and he smiled at their friend.  _ Oh how the mighty have fallen,  _ he thought to himself, thinking back to when Remus used to tease and badger him over whichever new crush was consuming his own time. This was going to be fun.

Roman teased him about it all day. Maybe he teased him a bit too much. 

_ Roman: If you’re not too busy with Lo, the light of your life, could you perhaps spare a moment to tell me what answers you got on the math worksheet last night? I forgot to do 1-20.  _

_ Remus: Eat a dick, dork _

Roman snorted at that.  _ Mature, as always,  _ he responded.  _ Please I only need #1-20 Remus _

_ Remus: We only needed to complete 1-20 tho _

_ Roman: yah I know I didn’t do any of it _

_ Remus: And what possessed you to make you think that I did?? _

_ Roman: Fine, I’ll text Janus then _

By the time lunch rolled around, Remus was back to his usual, slightly crazed self, with no indications whatsoever that any of Roman’s previous teasing words had gotten to him. With one exception. He was sitting across the table from Logan.    
  
Roman slid into the seat next to his childhood friend, confusion clear on his face. In three years of high school none of them had ever changed their seating. Even when Virgil joined them, they hadn’t moved around where they sat in the slightest, save for their new addition joining them. Logan looked equally confused, and a little bit sad at that. 

While Roman was working through what could have possibly caused something like this to happen, Janus sat down next to him, since Remus had taken the spot next to Virgil. He glanced around the table, reading the room, before looking to Roman in confusion, who just shrugged. Janus opened his mouth to say something, most likely an inquiry about Logan’s sullen silence and Virgil and Patton’s almost forcefully aloof behavior, when he was interrupted by Patton. 

“So!” the small boy exclaimed with a grin, quickly cutting off whatever question was coming, “Since you’re joining us tonight, there are a couple things you should know.” 

“Oh, okay.” Janus looked a little startled, and there was a look in Patton’s eyes that Roman hadn’t quite deciphered yet.

“First of all, what happens at Friendship Friday stays at Friendship Friday,” Patton said with a shrug. “Ya know, your basic stuff.” 

Janus mimed locking his mouth shut and throwing away the key. 

“Second, you won’t be required to help pay for snacks, but we usually all try to pitch in a little bit,” Patton explained, his expression softening as he said, “But of course, no one is required to and we would never condone someone paying for snacks if they can’t afford to go without the money.” 

“Sounds reasonable,” Janus said, smiling back. “I think I can definitely afford to cover my share.” 

Patton nodded happily. “And third, and most importantly… you have to wear this friendship bracelet that I made just for you!” He pulled out a little bracelet made out of yellow and black thread with a little bumblebee charm hanging from it, his eyes practically sparkling. 

If there was anything that Janus had assumed the rule would be, it clearly wasn’t this. “Oh my gosh, you made this?” He asked incredulously, taking the tiny woven bracelet from Patton with shaking hands. 

“I make one for everyone, silly!” Patton said with a grin. “Whenever someone joins the group, they get a friendship bracelet, that’s the rule.” 

“Very true,” Roman said, smiling and shaking out the mess of bracelets and bangles on his arm that day to pull out his well worn red and golden one, the little crown charm dangling as he extended his arm to show Janus. 

Logan took out his keychain, showing his dark blue bracelet hanging like a keychain accessory. “I was unsure about the jewelry aspect so I decided that it would be best if I tied one end of mine to my keys, since I take them everywhere,” he explained with a small smile. There was a tiny pair of glasses on his, the charm dulled slightly with age. 

“I’ve worn mine on my ankle for years now,” Virgil said with a small grin, hiking up his pant leg under the table to show them. His purple band had a tiny little lightning bolt dangling from it. “And I haven’t lost one yet,” he boasted. 

“When you lose it, I get to make you get an updated version,” Patton explained with a small chuckle. “You know when the knot comes loose and you ‘lose’ your friendship bracelet, one of your wishes is supposed to come true?” 

Janus stared down at the little bracelet, before looking back up in confusion. “Where’s Remus’?” he asked, barely concealed emotion in his voice. 

“I’m good at losing things,” Remus said with a goofy grin and a matter of fact shrug. 

“Fair enough.” Janus nodded. “Hey Roman, can you help me out?” he asked, offering his wrist and the bracelet to him. 

“Of course, doll,” Roman said with a smile. Remus got a weird look on his face as Roman tied the bracelet around Janus’ wrist carefully, making sure not to accidentally pinch his skin or tie it too tight. After he was finished, his fingers lingered for a moment too long on the skin of Janus’ wrist, finally dusting across it one last time as he pulled away.

As soon as the bell rang, Logan stood up. “I’ll see you in health,” he said curtly to Roman and Janus. And then he marched away. By the time Roman had processed that, it was too late, and Logan had disappeared into the growing crowd of meandering students.

“What was that about?” Janus pounced on him the moment the others were out of earsight. “Why was everyone so… tense?” 

Roman bit his lip, troubled. “I’m not sure. Logan would tell me if I had done something stupid, he’s never held back before…” He noticed out of the corner of his eye that Janus took smaller steps than he did, so Roman slowed his pace to match.

“So why the silent treatment now?” Janus said, equally confused. “I- I know I’m new but I figured something was weird today. You all weren’t just being super nice to each other for my benefit before, right?” Janus was perceptive, Roman appreciated that. He felt a surge of relief that he wasn’t the only one who was completely clueless. 

“Of course not! Remus and Logan love one another,” Roman almost chuckled at the double meaning, “and they’ve been friends since we were all kids.” 

“Well, something tells me we’ll get a lot more insight to the issue in a few minutes,” Janus said, reaching for the door. 

Before Roman knew what he was doing, he blurted out, “Please, allow me!” 

A little shocked, Janus pulled his arm back quickly, and Roman surged forward, opening the door in one swift movement. “After you,” he said, as smoothly as he could manage when his heart was trying to beat out of his chest. 

Janus gave him a soft smile, and his heart beat even faster. 


	6. Reconciling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting there my dudes
> 
> the fluff is coming, I promise

Logan looked miserable. He was staring straight ahead, eyes fixed on nothing at all, right in the center of the middle distance. His arms were crossed, though his fingernails dug into his arms. He had clearly ran his hands through his hair in distress, and it was sticking out a little more than he would usually deem acceptable and presentable. Scratch miserable, Logan looked downright pissed off. 

“Hey there buddy, you doing okay?” Roman said, a nervous laugh in his voice as he tentatively sat down next to Logan, looking his friend up and down with as little blatant staring as he could manage. Janus bit his lip, and Roman was certain that in that moment he had never felt more fortunate than he did now, sitting across from Logan rather than next to him. 

“Your brother is a complete and total asshole,” Logan hissed out through clenched teeth. “He’s selfish, lazy, and has little regard for any kind relationship that we’ve previously established, romantic or otherwise.” 

“What?” Roman was shocked. If Remus ever messed up, Logan was usually the one defending him, pointing out his virtues to the group, making  _ him  _ feel guilty for whatever nasty thing he said about his brother. “I thought you liked him,” he said carefully, and when Logan’s eyes met his, glare sharp enough to weld metal, he put his hands up defensively, “as a friend, as a friend.” 

“I thought I did like him,” Logan said, deflating a bit. Roman could let himself breathe a sigh of relief, Logan’s anger was now directed at the chalkboard to his side. “He was fun to be around and he thought so differently from everyone else. As unlikely as it seems, I might have even found myself liking him as… more than a friend. Maybe.” 

Logan clearly had more trouble talking about his feelings than previously realized if  _ that _ was the best he could do. Roman had seen him pining after Remus for almost two years now, and Logan had come so close to just flat out admitting to Roman that he was feeling things for his brother! His denial confused Roman to no end. 

Finally, Logan just sighed. “Look Roman, I know he’s your brother, but you just need to lay off. I know you feel like you need to be a part of other people’s relationships and issues, but it’s for the best if you just stay out of this, okay?” 

Roman just sat there, stumped. Logan returned to his quiet fuming, and their table stayed in silence for the rest of the period. 

It was Janus’ day to go help out with crew. Roman wondered why he couldn’t find him when he and Virgil (who happened to be equally clueless about the whole Logan and Remus situation) walked in, before remembering that fact. 

Luckily, they were running scenes with mostly just Belle and the Beast today, meaning that makeup and costume got to steal Roman for fitting and other miscellaneous tests. 

“I don’t know man, he’s really weird right now,” Virgil said, the sewing machine he was using him clicking along quietly. 

“But Logan’s never been this angry at Remus before!” Roman protested in response. “Not since we were kids…” 

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen Logan this angry at anyone before,” Virgil said offhand. “And I’m glad for that. Logan’s scary when he’s angry.” 

“It’s the height, it intimidates people,” Roman said, nodding knowingly. 

“What could Remus have done between yesterday and today at lunch that left Logan so... pissed off?” Janus asked, dabbing some foundation on Roman’s wrist to match his skin tone. When no one answered, he gave them a look. “I’m legitimately asking, because I’m new to the group and have even fewer ideas than you guys do.” 

“Logan’s not the type to let his emotions rule him,” Roman said with a frown, “In fact, he’d rather pretend they didn’t exist. The dude nearly bit my head off the moment I brought up a possibility that  _ maybe _ he could have liked someone as  _ a little bit more than _ a friend.” He rolled his eyes. “You know, he’s never said the words ‘yes I like him’ out loud. There’s always an out for him, he always has one loophole or another.” 

“I don’t have a clue-” Virgil started to say, before his face lit up. “But I bet you ten bucks I know who  _ does _ .”

Roman shook his head. “Don’t take that bet Janus, never bet against Virgil. He’s always right about these things.” 

“In that case,” Janus asked, curious. “Who are you thinking?” 

“Patton. He knows everything!” Virgil backtracked a bit. “Well, he knows everything about how we feel and what’s getting us down.”

“It amazes me to this day that he can keep all of our likes and dislikes straight,” Roman commented, then muttering, “It makes me feel like a slightly less than stellar friend.” 

“My working theory is that he keeps a notebook,” Virgil responded, popping his gum loudly. 

“That’s some notebook,” Roman mumbled. 

“Alright then, you know when he’d be able to talk to us? Preferably while Remus is onstage saying his lines and Logan is being forced to work the soundbox.” Janus absentmindedly used his index finger to turn Roman’s chin back forward, facing him.

He stuck his tongue out while he worked, an adorable fact that Roman was horribly, horribly aware of. He felt the blush rising in his cheeks, and felt a sudden rush of gratitude for the heavy, stage-worthy coating of foundation covering his cheeks right now.    
  


“I’ll shoot him a text,” Virgil suggested, yanking his phone out of the back pocket of his skinny jeans with only mild difficulty. “What?” he said defensively when he noticed Janus’ and Roman’s matching smirks, “I look good, and that’s what matters.” 

Janus just smiled his sweet smile at Virgil. “You’d look good in or out of those skinny jeans, sweetie.” 

Virgil’s resulting laugh sent a pang through Roman’s chest.  _ God, shut up. It’s just friendly teasing,  _ his inner voice told him. His inner voice was a ‘glass half full’ kinda guy.  _ Sure, but what if it wasn’t though,  _ his brain countered, almost on reflex. 

“Patton says he’ll only be a moment,” Virgil said then, bringing Roman back into the conversation at hand. 

  
Sure enough, when their friend rounded the corner only seconds later, he was beaming with excitement. “Hi guys!” he exclaimed, waving excitedly as though he was not invited and had just happened upon them in the hall. 

“Hey there Patton-cake,” Virgil said, grinning, “How long can we steal you for before they make you go back to work?”

“Oh, we’re just re-painting some older pieces,” Patton responded, waving his arm. “No biggie. What’s the sitch?” 

“We were wondering if you knew what was going on with Logan and Remus,” Roman spoke up. 

It was as though someone had stabbed Patton’s balloon of happiness with a needle. The short boy deflated in a blink of an eye. “Oh, is that all?” He looked nervous, reaching up and adjusting his large, circular glasses. 

“Yeah, they’ve been super weird all day, and I was wondering if you knew anything in particular that may have caused it? Maybe one of them spoke to you?” Roman asked hopefully. 

“Ya see, kiddos…” Patton re-adjusted his glasses. “I don’t think you should worry too much about what’s going on with them right now. It’ll pass!” The way he said it seemed like he was trying to will that fact into existence. Roman narrowed his eyes. If he could read minds, he would have known that not only one, but both Logan and Remus had come to Patton separately during that day, begging him to help them hash things out and to keep quiet about it. 

Roman spluttered. “You can’t be serious, Popstar! Logan’s my friend!” He paused. “And Remus is my brother!” 

“I-” Patton looked at the floor awkwardly. 

“I care about them, I want to be there for them, but I can’t if I don’t know anything,” Roman said desperately. 

“I totally forgot to mention, I need to be somewhere else right now!” Patton said, giving them a slightly forced smile. “So sorry, can’t believe I forgot that! Time to go be somewhere else!” And then he was gone. 

“Well that went horribly,” Janus commented, wincing. 

“And was horribly unhelpful!” Roman frowned. 

“I know it sounds  _ crazy, _ Roman,” Janus said, biting his lip, “but maybe we should just let it go for a while.” 

Roman just sighed. “Maybe you’re right,” he conceded. He pouted for a moment before perking up. “It’ll come out with time! Maybe they’ll even say something tonight!” 

Janus just sighed fondly, using his thumb to smudge a bit of blush across one of Roman’s cheeks. 

They made it as far as the parking lot before Roman realized that he didn’t want to have to put up with either of Logan or Remus’ poor attitudes. Biting his lip, he grabbed Janus’ arm, pulling him back to him before he registered what he was doing. “Hey, you’ll sit shotgun, right?” he asked the other boy, hope sparkling in his eyes. 

Janus hesitated. “Are you sure everyone will be cool with that?” he asked, gesturing back to Virgil and Patton, looking horribly awkward sandwiched between Logan and Remus. His brother and best friend were apparently still on the outs. 

“Please,” Roman just said in response.    
  
After a moment of silence, and most likely against his better judgement, Janus nodded slowly. “Of course.”

The car ride seemed longer than usual, and by the time the six boys had reached the dollar spot, Roman was ready to jump out of the moving car. Virgil and Patton blurted something about going to pick up the usual candy, all but bolting for that aisle. 

“How about Remus and I go and grab chips or something?” Roman offered, looking more at Janus than Logan, checking that he was okay with this development. Luckily, Janus just nodded, saying, “I’m sure Logan knows all the best cheap energy drinks.” 

As soon as Logan and Janus were out of earshot, Remus whirled around and shoved Roman away from him. It wasn’t hard enough to really do any damage, and he mostly just stumbled a bit over his own feet before regaining his balance. “Dude, what is your deal?” Roman hissed. 

“What is my deal? Bitch, what is your deal?” Remus hissed in response, stomping off to grab the aforementioned chips off the shelf. Roman found his shorter legs straining to keep up without jogging. It irked him that Remus had that final growth spurt, pushing him just an inch or two above him last year. “I finally let you in on what I’ve been feeling and you spend all day teasing me? Not only that but Lo-” he let out a sharp breath, clearly collecting himself. “You’re so hypocritical, Roman! You mock me for using a nickname but then go around calling Janus ‘doll’ like it’s no biggie. When you do things like this it just makes me want to... rip my own spleen out! Ugh!” If he were perhaps a tad less composed, Remus would have stomped his foot like a disgruntled toddler. “Maybe it would have occured to you that this was something I wanted to keep  _ private _ until I figured myself out?” 

A passing shopper gave them a strange look. 

Roman winced at his brother’s expression. “Hey, no harm no foul, right?” 

Remus sent him a withering stare.    
  
“Okay okay I’m sorry, I know I messed up,” Roman said with another wince. Remus didn’t get really, truly mad at him without good reason, despite his slightly unhinged personality. “It was dumb to keep pushing it, I just got so excited that I could finally tease you about a crush instead of the other way around, I clearly should have read the room better.” 

“Yeah, maybe you should have,” Remus said, though his face softened at that. Now, instead of looking pissed off, he just looked lost. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys are so freaking sweet and it just makes my freaking day whenever I see your nice words or kudos or even just that you cared enough to click on this passion project of mine, I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you so much and I hope wherever you are you are happy and safe <3


	7. [Original Title Idea #2]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi before you read this I just want to let you know that you're great! You, personally, are amazing! Keep on being your great self and feeling good about it! :D

“Is… is there anything I can do to help?” Roman asked him, brows furrowing with worry. 

Remus had just opened his mouth when they were interrupted. “We found buy two get two free popsicles!” Virgil ran past them, cackling and holding said popsicles aloft triumphantly. 

“Technically, that’s just buy one get one free... twice.” Logan said quietly, practically materializing behind them. Both Roman and Remus jumped. “Remus, may I speak to you for a moment?” he asked, sounding more vulnerable that Roman had heard him sound in a long time. 

“Yes, of course, definitely,” Remus breathed out, sounding equally relieved and guilty as he stared into Logan’s eyes. “Absolutely, all of the above.” 

Logan just cleared his throat. “Alone?” he prompted, glancing over at Roman. “I’ve already sent Janus ahead with the drinks.” 

“Sorry,” Roman muttered, ducking out. He didn’t miss the way that Remus’ hand reached out to ghost across Logan’s shoulder, touching him like he thought he would break him. They clearly had a lot to discuss, and though Roman’s heart ached at the thought of keeping his distance while they took the time to figure things out, he had resigned himself to solitude. They had asked for this, they didn’t need his input. 

He found Janus at the register, fumbling through the conglomeration of cash Roman’s friends had dumped on him, and Virgil next to him, clearly biting his lip to keep from laughing. Even as Roman walked up to join them, a couple of quarters dropped between Janus’ slender fingers, bouncing and rolling to a stop a couple of tiles away. 

“Oh, shit!” Janus growled under his breath as he began to reach for the silvery coins. 

“No need, I’ve got it,” Roman said loudly, swooping into a low bow and scooping up the spare change. He presented it with a flourish. “Your quarters, my good sir.” 

“Oh-” Janus flushed a little bit, smiling as he took the money from his hand. His fingers felt cold against Roman’s palm. “Thanks,” he whispered, giving him a tiny smile. 

The poor teenager manning the checkout lane cleared his throat loudly. Virgil snickered. 

Luckily, they all made it out of the dollar spot, miraculously in one piece. There was an iffy moment at the end there where Roman almost wondered if they had lost Logan and Remus forever, but the two of them emerged from whatever aisle Roman had left them in looking rather placated and standing closer together than he had seen them all day, so Roman went with his earlier philosophy of ‘no harm no foul,’ and just decided not to look the metaphorical gift horse in the mouth. 

They listened to Hamilton on the drive home, but between Roman trying to assign everyone parts, Logan’s downright refusal to sing anything, and Patton admonishing them for any and all of the (rather minimal) cursing, it wasn’t quite the perfect theatre experience Roman had hoped for. However, looking back at all of his friends having a good time together, he couldn’t help but smile. 

They were still singing when they got inside the house, Remus slipping his key into the lock in one fluid motion, opening the door with a flourish, and that’s when the barking started. 

Barking was a kind word for it, it was more like yipping. Roman’s tiny little excuse for a dog, a pure white Japanese Spitz, flew around the corner to meet them. Technically he was supposed to be a family dog, but the small creature had taken quite a shine to Roman sometime around the very moment he met him, and became fiercely loyal. However, he had also grown to love Logan, in spite of Logan’s general distaste for small furry creatures. 

“Gatsby!” Roman cried, delighted, scooping up the tiny dog and turning back to the group and realizing there was someone present who hadn’t yet been graced with the presence of his baby boy. “Janus, this is Gatsby,” he explained as the dog did its best to lick every inch of his face. The others had seen the puppy a thousand times before, Patton was already cooing at the little fluffball. 

Janus sent a small wave in Gatsby’s direction, looking only mildly uncomfortable. 

“If he bothers you I can keep him upstairs,” Roman offered, concern crossing his face. “I can make sure he leaves us alone tonight, we keep him in the sunroom when we have guests over who don’t like dogs. He doesn’t go up and down stairs very well.”

“No I’m okay,” Janus said, sounding a bit unsure. “I just haven’t had the best track record with dogs.” He put a more convincing smile on his face to placate Roman’s worry. “Really, I’m fine. Thank you though.” 

The tiny dog squirmed out of Roman’s hands, and he let him go. “As long as you’re sure,” he said, then turning to the rest of the group. “Well, you guys know the drill. To the basement!” 

Roman’s and Remus’ basement had an 80’s vibe, and not a very cool one. The carpet was bright red, the wooden paneling on the walls had probably never been replaced, and there was actually an old arcade machine in the corner, though no one had touched it in years. However, as on every Friday, there was a massive pile of blankets and pillows stacked up in the middle of the floor, and some various beanbags had been pulled from their respective hiding spots. The couch facing the TV was raggedy and covered in little white hairs. 

“Woah,” Janus breathed out, staring at the room as the other boys made themselves at home. Virgil had already claimed the largest beanbag, all but collapsing on it with a big  _ poof _ . Logan and Remus made themselves at home on the big couch, sitting a little closer than was strictly necessary. Patton just giggled, plopping himself on the floor near Virgil and letting their shopping bags swing down off his shoulder. 

“Everything okay?” Roman murmured from his spot behind Janus, biting his lip. He didn’t know what he was so worried about. Was he concerned Janus wouldn’t like his basement? Why did he care so much about that in the first place? It’s not like he could control his house, he didn’t really choose it himself or anything. 

“Yeah, it’s just a lot to take in,” Janus mumbled, glancing around at everyone else already making themselves at home. “Sorry.” 

“You have nothing to be sorry about,” Roman said hastily. “They all know the drill, they’ve only done it a million times, please, grab whatever you want.” He smiled. “Though I will warn you, Virgil usually sleeps on the beanbags and he’ll fight you for them.”

Janus’ laugh was almost cuter than his smile. Almost. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said. 

“Who wants to play some Mario Kart?” Roman cried out, turning to the rest of the room. There were whoops and cheers, as well as an “Affirmative,” from Logan. He grinned, snagging the tv remote from his coffee table and beginning to set it up. 

“We can only play four at a time, so some people are going to have to sit out the first round,” Logan reminded them all. Logan was inhumanly good at Mario Kart. He had been playing it with the twins for years, so it kind of made sense. 

“Oh, I can sit out for the first round,” Janus said, shaking his head a little and smiling awkwardly. 

“I will sit out as well, you guys have the first go,” Roman said quickly thereafter. He and Janus sat down on the horrible red carpet, Roman extending his arms behind him to prop himself up. 

“So, who’s who?” Janus asked them as they all selected their characters. 

“I’m player one, Lo is top right, Patton is bottom left, and Virge is on the right too,” Remus said, picking Waluigi.

Janus just nodded, eyes trained on the characters on the screen. 

He didn’t know it, but Roman’s eyes were trained on him. 

Biting his lip, Roman tried to think of a good icebreaker. The others were already getting sucked into their race, Logan’s competitive streak coming out. “So,” he tried, “long school day, huh?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Roman wanted to smack himself.  _ Idiot.  _

But Janus just smiled, much to Roman’s relief. “I hate Phys ed. It’s officially the worst.”

“Oh, you have no idea!” Roman said with a huge grin. “You’ve got that when, first block?” He let out a low whistle when Janus nodded. “You poor soul, when your class has swimming you’re going to be wet and uncomfortable the rest of the day.” 

Janus wrinkled up his cute little nose. “And I thought today was bad, all we did was walk in a large circle.” 

He laughed at that. “Yeah, that’s what gym is most of the time, if you don’t want to do the sports and activities, you get stuck walking the circle of death.” Romn left out the fact that he actually enjoyed gym class, as it allowed him to show off a little bit more than usual. Plus, it would never be as hard as any of the workouts he had done with the football team. 

“Well, lesser of two evils I suppose,” Janus said with a shrug. “At least that way no one bothers me.”

“You don’t have friends in that class?” Roman frowned. 

Janus just laughed. “I didn’t have friends in  _ any  _ classes until I met you,” he pointed out. 

Roman tried not to let that go to his head, failing miserably. 

“Either of you kiddos want to take over for me?” Patton offered up his remote to them, “I’m gonna go scrounge up something for you guys to eat.” 

Logan gave him a look. “Patton, for the last time, you’re a guest here, you don’t  _ need _ to feed us unless you’re our host. That being said…” he turned to Roman batting his eyelashes mockingly, “Please go procure some unhealthy foods for us, most honorable host.” 

Roman stuck his tongue out at him. “Get them yourself dude, you practically live here anyway.” However, he did accept Patton’s controller, allowing their friend to leap over to the discarded dollar general bags triumphantly, despite Logan’s discouragement. 

“See, we have all kinds of nifty snacks!” he said with a large grin. “Any particular requests?” He shook the plastic bag temptingly. 

“Can you pass me the popcorn?” Virgil said in response, tongue sticking out due to his intense concentration. 

“Sure thing, buddy! And let me just say what an a- _ maize _ -ing choice!” Patton said, grin stretching even wider, despite the groaning and booing around him. “Aww, come on guys, I don’t wanna  _ ear  _ it! It was a good pun and you know it.”

“Those are terrible,” Janus informed him, tone serious. “You should try and find some  _ butter _ jokes.” He couldn’t keep the serious facade up however, and he was practically shaking with repressed laughter by the end of his sentence. 

Logan just sighed, letting his forehead rest against Remus’ shoulder. 

Patton high fived Janus as he passed the popcorn over to Virgil. “I like this one,” he commented to Roman offhand, a knowing smile on his face that Roman would have gladly pretended not to have seen if he was a bit faster. He felt a slight flush on his cheeks, and he focused even more intently on his race. 

Janus joined them for the next cup, if only tentatively. “I’ve never actually played Mario Kart before,” he had admitted softly when Virgil had originally offered him the controller. 

“Well that won’t do at all!” Roman had exclaimed. “What, did you come from a playstation family or something?” Behind him, Remus made a face. 

Janus shook his head. 

“All right then, I’ll help you out,” Roman smiled at him, passing his own remote back to Patton. “Do you know how to accelerate?” 

Janus nodded. “I noticed that some of you guys were steering differently though.” 

“Oh right, you can choose between turning with motion controls or the joystick…” Roman said, his own voice sounding far away as he realized that he was pressed up against Janus, their hands brushing against one another as he pointed out all of the buttons and features on the controller. 

The next race began, and Janus stiffened as the same haze of concentration that possessed all Mario Kart players fell over him. Roman just sat there, occasionally mumbling “nice,” or “good turn,” and dared to lean his head lightly against his friend’s shoulder, focusing on just how nice it felt to be close to him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys have been too kind to me omg your comments and kudos make my day I know I say it every time but that doesn't make it any less true! 
> 
> Next up: perhaps..... a chapter about L o g a n ..........? jk jk,,, Unless? 
> 
> (lmao sorry)


	8. Logan's Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is that......... character development??? In MY story???? yes. yes it is.
> 
> here's a flashback detailing what went on during Logan's day, so y'all can get that much needed backstory.

Friday had honestly been a wild ride for Logan, a real rollercoaster of emotions. Disgusting. 

First, he’d rolled out of bed twenty minutes later than he should have. Grumbling under his breath about his alarm and how  _ it had one freaking job  _ he had noticed his phone lighting up. He had a couple of different messages. 

_ Remus: heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy :) _

_ Janus:  _ _ My moms were wondering what time you guys wanted me picked up on Saturday _

He jotted a quick response to Janus before taking some time to text Remus back properly.    
  
_ Logan: Good morning, Remus! It is unusual for you to not text me on the group chat, is everything okay?  _

_ Remus: ya just wondered why you haven’t stopped by yet _

_ Remus: also wondering if you’ve ever seen a documentary about cuttlefish _

Logan snorted at that. It was nice, Remus texting him separately. He secretly appreciated how private it seemed. That was stupid, he knew, but their group had had the chat going for ages, and anything anyone wanted to say, everyone heard whether they wanted to or not. 

  
Despite their already established private conversation, Logan took the time to respond to Remus on the group chat as well, getting another smiley face in response and feeling something akin to butterflies in his stomach. 

_ Logan: Any old documentary about cuttlefish, or a particular one?  _

_ Remus: naw any documentaries _

_ Remus: just curious  _

Logan approximated this as small talk, apparently a valuable part of human companionship and one of the best ways to get to know someone and better understand their interests. 

_ Logan: I have unfortunately never seen any documents specifically informing viewers on cuttlefish, however they were mentioned briefly in a documentary providing detail on molluscs that I viewed recently. _

_ Remus: That’s so cool! See you soon?  _

Confused by the change of topic, Logan checked the time. With a start he realized that he needed to be at the King’s house in three minutes. 

_ Logan: Yes.  _

Locking his door and turning, he saw Roman and Remus across the street, seemingly having some kind of argument by the side of the car. He paused for a moment, since Remus looked so miffed, before continuing down his front steps and across the street to meet him.    
  
Remus had done his makeup differently again today, his almost signature purple eyeshadow turned into a faded blue at the edges of his eyes. He smiled at Logan shyly, an odd emotion to see on Remus, climbing into the car quickly. Logan slid in behind him, greeting them with his usual amount of enthusiasm. 

His walk to first block with Remus felt stilted for some reason, despite Remus’ excited tone over text that morning, which didn’t make sense at all in Logan’s brain. They both enjoyed conversing earlier that day, they had driven to school, and now they should be conversing pleasantly again. It was just logical. However, he couldn’t even get the other boy to meet his eyes. 

Finally, he caved. “Is everything alright, Remus?” he asked him as they stood outside their AP bio room, waiting for the teacher to unlock the class. “You seem… unhappy.” Logan struggled briefly for a better word, but decided to just leave it at that. 

Remus jumped like he had heard a gunshot. “Me?” he asked, still avoiding eye contact, “Right as rain.” There was a long pause, during which Logan stared at him dubiously, before he burst into conversation again. “Speaking of rain, did you know that atmospheric friction is the only thing actively keeping rain drops from injuring or even killing us?” 

Logan nodded. “Yes, yes, rain drops can fall at anywhere between eighteen and twenty two miles per hour, but that’s not the point. Remus, you seem to be unhappy with me, have I done anything between this morning and now to make you feel this way?”

“No no no,” Remus’ eyes were wide. “It’s not you at all, it’s not you…” then he snorted. “It’s me. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it awkward, Lo.” 

They were being let inside the classroom now, their teacher Mr Terrance ushering the children in quickly to make up for lost time. Logan just let a touch of a smile grace his face. “It’s only awkward if you make it awkward,” he pointed out.

Remus gave him a tentative shoulder bump. “Touche.”

The beginning of class was slow, as per usual. They were given certain page numbers to take notes from and then left to their own devices to take ‘whatever notes they found suitable’. Logan color coded his, his immaculate handwriting neatly filling the lines on his notebook. Every now and then, he would glance over at Remus, whose lines of notes were written as a single paragraph of thought, his messy scrawl covering the front and back of a page already, the bright pink ink clearly not drying fast enough for his train of thought. The entire back of Remus’ hand was covered in pink smudges. 

Finally Mr Terrance told them they would be dividing into their usual lab partners to complete an interactive online tour of the muscular system, and then complete a worksheet about it. There was the usual rustle of paper and scraping of chairs before the class practically erupted with the buzz of teenagers talking.    
  
Logan pulled out his computer, turning the screen so Remus could see it too, when he heard it. “Wow, looks like Pocket Protector over there still has a stick up his butt.” 

Logan stiffened involuntarily, listening in on the laughter that followed that statement. 

“He’s in my fourth block, he’s  _ such  _ a stuck up ass. The other day, my friend asked him what the answer was to one of the problems, and he just corrected her grammar instead of helping her out. I mean, what’s the point of acting that smart if you aren’t going to help anybody, huh?” 

Remus’ hand was suddenly on his back, the action grounding him. Logan felt like his blood had run cold. 

“I can make them stop if you want me to.” The words were quiet, and Remus’ tone was dead serious. “I’ll rip their spines out through their nostrils and grind them to a fine powder and snort it in front of them.” 

Logan shook his head, as though the simple act would shake free the harsh words from where they were stuck in his brain. “Thanks but no thanks,” he said back, making sure his face remained passive and uncaring, “let’s just do the assignment.” 

Saying you were going to ignore something and actually ignoring that thing were two completely separate beasts, and Logan was sure Remus was smarter than he looked. The gossiping in itself was bad enough, but to be there while it was in progress was just so much worse. Every time Logan flinched at a particularly harsh jab, the muscles in Remus’ fist tightened just a tiny bit more, his knuckles turning white. 

Finally, he said, “You know what, I’ll be right back.” 

“But… we aren’t done with the assignment yet?” Logan said, perplexed. 

“Yeah I know I’m just going to go pour this bottle of acetone on them,” Remus said casually, jerking his thumb back at the group of gossiping kids behind them. 

Logan stared at him, debating between a couple of questions. He went with the most pressing one. “Why do you have a bottle of acetone in your backpack?” 

“Light snack.”

“I sincerely hope that you’re joking, for your own sake.” 

Remus just laughed a little, blowing Logan a kiss. “Hold my phone for me, will you?” 

Logan ignored the way his heart skipped a beat at that, chuckling and shaking his head but accepting the phone nonetheless. “Don’t do it,” he said one last time, rolling his eyes.    
  
“Yah whatever, Lo. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” Remus said before sashaying away in that fashion that only really Remus could pull off. 

Logan just shook his head again, turning back to the computer. He clicked through a few more of the slides before he felt Remus’ phone buzz against the table. It was rude to eavesdrop, but the phone buzzed again and then a third time. Flipping the phone over to clear the messages, Logan couldn’t help his eyes jumping to the first text in the line. 

_ Roman: If you’re not too busy with Lo, the light of your life, could you perhaps spare a moment to tell me what answers you got on the math worksheet last night? I forgot to do 1-20.  _

Logan couldn’t help the flush of color to his face, and he dropped the phone like he’d been burned. Pushing his glasses up the brink of his nose, he resumed clicking through the work intently, his head racing. 

When Remus returned Logan wasn’t anywhere near ready enough to face him. A bit of a flustered mess, Logan jumped at Remus’ sudden entrance. 

“I’m  _ ba-ack! _ ” Remus sing-songed, grinning and sliding into the seat next to him. “Whatdid I miss, Lo?” 

“I- uh, Roman texted you,” Logan said, shoving the phone at him, refusing to look at him. 

He would hear Remus’ nervous panicky laugh in the back of his head for the rest of the day. “Oh yeah, looks like he did all right.” There was a long pause. “Did you read my texts, Logan?” His tone was strange, Logan had trouble placing it.

He just closed his eyes, nodding in a mortified fashion. “Just the one,” he whispered.  _ Ask him!  _ part of his brain screamed at him.  _ Absolutely not, Logan Berry, you will do nothing of that sort,  _ the second, more rational part of his brain said. Usually, Logan listened to that part of his brain, but before he knew what he was saying, he blurted out, “Does he mean it?” 

“What?” Remus practically whispered, looking wary and panickey and frazzled all at once. 

“Does he mean it?” Logan forced himself to repeat the question, then, “Is it true that you have feelings for me of the romantic nature and that your brother was partaking in the sacred teenage tradition of making fun of you for what could be defined as a ‘crush’?” 

Remus digested that for a moment, and if Logan’s heart wasn’t already figuratively almost beating out of his chest, it would have sped up even further. 

Remus let out another of those strange panickey laughs that Logan had never heard before. “What, me? Heh, you know Roman, he’s stupid. No, that’s ridiculous! Why would I?” He let out another, even more forced laugh. “Crazy talk. Gross. I don’t even know why he sent that, to be frank.” 

The first thing Logan felt was a crushing tidal wave of sheer emotion.  _ Gross. _ Sucking in a shaky breath, he nodded a bit, ignoring the tears pricking at the corners of his eyes as he nodded. “Indeed, that would be foolish indeed. You’re right Remus, I don’t even know why  _ anyone _ would like me. That is crazy talk.”

Remus’ brows furrowed. “Hey wait a second, that’s not what I meant at all-” 

But Logan was on a roll now. Maybe it was the half flirting he’d been doing with Remus all morning, maybe it was the nasty gossiping kids behind him, maybe it was just the fact that he was overtired, maybe it had nothing to do with Remus at all, and he was pissed off. Maybe it was all of the above. All of that trademark high school emotion had just been filling him up, and he knew that he was going to burst eventually. Why not today? “No please, I love being told all the reasons that it would be ‘stupid’ to date me, it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” he snarled out, taking a tone he never would have with Remus. “I get it, there’s no logical reason that  _ anyone _ could like someone like me! How foolish for me to assume based on context clues. My mistake.” He spit the words out like they pained him, acutely aware that the rest of the class had completely stilled. 

Remus’ eyes were wide with regret, and even as Logan watched him, he saw them beginning to water. His friend bit his lip before nodding slightly. “I’ll see you at lunch,” he whispered, so low that Logan could barely hear him, and then he fled the room, twisting away from Logan and past him. 

Logan sat there for a moment before he came down from his emotional high, burying his face in his hands. The power and the satisfaction of being angry and acting on it shed off of him like rainwater off an umbrella, and he was left with a puddle of guilt and sadness.  _ Fuck.  _

Second block was a blur. He had AP English with Virgil, and though he clearly knew  _ something _ was off with Logan, he refused to comment on it. Logan did the only thing he could think of, he texted Patton. 

_ Logan: Hey Pat, can I talk to you? _

Patton was in Voice Class with Roman, and they were supposed to be presenting their duet today if Logan’s internal calendar proved accurate as per usual. Apart from that, his friend should be free.

_ Patton: What’s up, Kiddo?  _

_ Logan: I believe I’ve messed up.  _

_ Patton: That’s okay Lo, we all mess up occasionally, the best thing to do is to remember that you did your best and you’ll get ‘em next time! Try not to beat yourself up too much about it, we all know how smart you are. :) _

Patton believed that he had messed up on a test. Logan frowned. 

_ Logan: Let me rephrase. I believe I’ve messed up with Remus.  _

The response was immediate. 

_ Patton: What’s the rundown, Lo?  _

Logan filled him in, leaving out some of the less important details, like the way the light had glinted off of Remus’ green tinted hair in the sunlight, or how tragically beautiful he had seemed with his wide teary eyes. He even left out the crushing sense of guilt and sadness he had felt drop on him the moment Remus had left the room, slumping like a puppet cut from his strings.

_ Patton: Oh jeez, Logan I’m so sorry.  _

_ Logan: What do I do?  _

_ Patton: I don’t have all the answers, but the best I can come up with is just to talk to him about it. I know that’s probably the last thing you want to do about it, but trust me. I know how much he cares about you, and it’s clear you feel the same way. Just… talk to him with an open mind and a clear head. Wait until you’ve calmed down and just figure it out. The formula is different for everyone, find the words that are right for  _ you.

_ Logan: Thank you, Patton.  _

_ Patton: My pleasure, kiddo. And Logan? _

_ Logan: Yes, Patton? _

_ Patton: Thanks for talking to me, I know how these more emotional things are for you and I’m just glad you felt you were able to reach out to someone, even me. It means a lot.  _

Logan didn’t even know what to say from that. His emotions had ruled his day so far, he wasn’t going to let them get in anyone’s way anymore. As he and Virgil walked to lunch, talking about nothing at all, a safe topic, Logan tried to smile naturally. It came out as more of a grimace. 

They sat down across from one another, still talking about class and their stupid teacher and the passage of time and absolutely nothing at all. Maybe small talk had its uses. Logan’s mouth was moving without being connected to his brain at all. 

Remus got to their table moments later, walking somewhat behind Patton. They set their trays on either side of Virgil, and Logan felt another rusty knife to his chest.  _ Oh, that makes sense,  _ he rationalized.  _ You did yell at him.  _ Remus’ makeup seemed as intact as ever, so Logan hoped that meant he had been able to compose himself rather quickly after he left. There was his ever present guilt again, tugging at his sleeve like a needy toddler. 

_ Brush it off, just don’t look at him.  _

Lunch was a disaster, to say the least. In fact, between Janus and Roman in third block and the absolute disaster that was his fourth block, Logan was ready to bash his skull in and let himself bleed out on the floor in front of the class. That was a peculiarly Remus-like thought, but he stood by it. 

The sound box was his reprieve. Sure, he had to watch Remus prance around the stage pretending to be in love with a girl about half Logan’s height, but at least none of his friends tried to  _ talk to him.  _ There were only ever two or three students up there at a time, and the freshman Logan had taken up to assist him was so quiet the crew had assumed that he was mute the first half of the year. At least this gave him some time to sort out his… feelings. 

For something that stayed inside your head most of the time, thoughts were loud, angry things. They demanded attention, and when you flat out refused to address them, they rattled around until they’d messed up enough that you were  _ forced _ to acknowledge them. 

And so Logan took some time to acknowledge his feelings, the most pressure cooker of emotion inside himself. Yes, he liked Remus, that much was clear. He liked him enough that he wanted to go through the effort of repairing what was left of their fractured relationship. He liked him enough that he wanted to tell Remus how he felt, and if the other boy didn’t feel the same, he still wanted to be a part of his life anyway. He liked Remus enough to do a lot of things, but he didn’t need to unpack  _ all of that _ right now. Baby steps. 

Fine. He was angry and stressed and he wanted to do something about it. He wasn’t angry at Remus anymore, he just wanted to let the load of repressed fury off of his chest, to break the mask in two and show someone what he was really like underneath. He wanted to be happy and sad and maybe even once and a while feel like he was loved and to be content with that. 

Most of all, he felt guilty. It covered him like a thick fog, getting inside his lungs and making it hard to breathe. He felt guilty for yelling at Remus, for letting his emotions get the best of him. He felt guilty that he couldn’t seem to stop once he started, that he liked finally showing a little strong emotion. He felt guilty that he had hurt Remus, and he felt guilty that he didn’t know how to deal with it once it had happened. 

_ This is good,  _ a part of him said as he dimmed the lights on the stage absentmindedly, watching Remus closely,  _ usually if you felt like this you would just say that you were “fine”. This is so much more than just “fine”.  _

He knew he was right, he knew it was good to acknowledge his hormone fueled tide of emotions, but that didn’t mean he had to like it. Logan’s stomach was in knots the whole way to the Dollar Spot. Remus sat on the other side of the car, looking out the window. The tips of his green streaked hair hung in his eyes, and his arms were wrapped around his midsection like he was trying to give himself a hug. 

Patton and Virgil bolted the moment the car engine was turned off, not that Logan could blame them. Roman offered to take Remus with him and told Logan and Janus to find drinks. Logan waited until he’d chosen a sufficient amount of overly sugary drinks before offering that Janus take them up to the front to put with Patton and Virgil’s loot. Janus looked almost relieved to be out of there, giving him a tentative smile and then vanishing. 

He wandered the aisles for a while until he found them. Roman and Remus were facing one another in the center of the aisle when Virgil blew past them, saying something about buy-two-get-two-free popsicles.   
  
“Technically, that’s just buy one get one free… twice,” Logan pointed out, wincing as both Roman and Remus jumped slightly. “Remus, may I speak with you for a moment?”

Remus looked like he was about to punch him, or kiss him, or maybe both. He nodded quickly. “Yes, of course, definitely.” 

Roman didn’t move. 

“Alone?” Logan prompted his best friend gently, tacking on “I’ve already sent Janus up to the front with the drinks,” just as an incentive. 

As Roman started to back away, Remus took a step closer to him, looking like a lost puppy. “Lo… I didn’t-” he started. 

“One moment please, Remus,” Logan said. “I simply need to get this off my chest. Earlier today was a horrible mistake on my part. I should not have been so foolish and thin skinned as to react to your ‘rejection’ in such a fashion. I was overly sensitive and honestly, I have no idea where it came from. I shouldn’t have taken out my anger on you because I like you. A lot.” He couldn’t help it, his voice cracked a little bit as his throat tightened up. “And since my feelings for you could be classified as romantic, I took an uncharacteristic amount of offense when I realized that those feelings weren’t being returned, at least not in the same fashion. With that being said, I’d like to formally apologize for my actions, and call a truce of sorts.” Logan bit his lip. “You’re just too important to me to lose.”

To his surprise, Remus let out something between a choked sob and a laugh. “We’re just a couple of idiots, huh, Lo?” he said quietly, reaching out and taking Logan’s hands. 

Logan looked at him, confusion flitting across his face.

Remus sighed, running his fingers through his hair as if stalling. “I’m not… good at this, Lo,” he began to explain. “I haven’t really ever felt this way for anyone before, it’s all new for me. When we were kids, Roman was always thirsting after one guy or another and I just felt nothing. I mean sure, I acknowledged when I found someone hot as hell, but I never felt anything more than that,” he said looking up to meet Logan’s eyes. “That’s why falling for you completely blindsided me.”

Logan felt like he’d just been punched in the stomach. Remus continued. 

“I didn’t tell anyone for a while, because I wanted to figure it out, but Roman was poking around like he does, and like any brother, he  _ apparently _ couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tease me for something, as opposed to the other way round.” Remus rolled his eyes, and Logan couldn’t help but smile. Yeah, that sounded like Roman. “I just panicked when you asked me flat out,” Remus finished. 

Logan had a sudden urge to grab Remus’ face and press it against his own. Instead he just reached out very slowly and pulled Remus against himself, arms tightening around him. Remus returned the hug quickly, squeezing Logan as tightly as possible, shoulders shaking. 

“I’m so sorry,” Logan whispered again, rubbing Remus’ back gently and closing his eyes as his eyesight began to blur a little bit. 

“Me too,” Remus replied, squeezing him even tighter.

As much as Logan loved this man, he might have to tap out of this hug before Remus suffocated him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the obligatory flashback chapter! I hope you all liked it, it's twice as long as I expected it to be (whoops) but yeah I just couldn't help myself. After this it's gonna be more Roman's POV again and caught up with the main story. 
> 
> I'd just like to take another moment of your day to tell every single gosh darn one of you that I love you and you're phenomenal and I couldn't ask for nicer readers T-T 
> 
> Also a special note to EmotionalDorito who sacrificed precious sleep time to read this story and COMMENTED ON EVERY CHAPTER(??) a very special thank you to you and also I desperately hope that you eventually got enough sleep


	9. Food for Thought

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My brain, an intellectual: The readers don't want any more flashback chapters, time to move on in the story and get to that juicy plot point you're so excited to write! 
> 
> My heart:

The rest of the night was practically a blur to Roman. At some point his mother got home from work, bearing pizzas. Between the six of them they made quick work of all the pies. Remus practically inhaled his.   
  
They’d stayed up late playing video games and joking around, playing the stupid middle school games that made Roman think back to some of their very first Friendship Fridays, back when it was just him and Logan and Remus and Patton. 

_“I dare you... to flirt with someone here tonight.” At thirteen years old, Roman was delighted to have thought of such an embarrassing dare for his friend! Logan hated these kinds of mushy romantic things._

_Logan, eyes still a little bit too big for his face at this age, stared back at him with the resigned glare of a best friend used to putting up with Roman’s usual mushy romantic shit. “Very well,” he nodded, ignoring Patton’s giggling from beside him, “Rest assured, I will partake in flirting sometime later in the evening.”_

_“That’s not how you say that at all,” Patton giggled even harder, his braces glinting as he tore a big piece of pizza and sloping some stringy cheese across his baby blue shirt. “It’s just flirting, Logan.” He reached out and grabbed a napkin from the stack next to the pizza boxes._

_“Very well. I shall attempt a pick up line. This will certainly be humorous for you two.” Logan sighed, before turning to Remus, clearly zoning out. He cleared his throat. “Remus?”_

_Remus jolted, looking up at him. “Huh?” Shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts, his mop of brown hair flopped into his face. “What’s up, dork?”_

_“There are twenty one letters in the alphabet, affirmative?” Logan said, only slightly robotic._

_Remus just blinked owlishly at him. “Well shit dude, why are you asking me?” he said, only semi-aware of Roman and Patton off to the side, cracking up. “You’re the smart one.” When he got no answer, he considered the question. “Yah that sounds right to me, Logan.”_

_There was a moment of silence, and then Logan buried his face in his hands. “Idiot,” he mumbled. “Oh my gosh he doesn’t know the number of letters in the alphabet.”_

Roman chuckled to himself even now. At the time, that whole exchange was practically the funniest thing since jokes on laffy taffy wrappers, but to this day it still at least roused a smile. The look on Logan’s face had been priceless. Of course, he would never do something like that to his friends now, but then again… they were not the same people they were in middle school. 

At some point, after the pizza was long gone, Patton said, “Would anyone mind if I made some pasta?” Since none of them could figure out a reason why he shouldn’t be allowed to make pasta, he was given the green light and was sent upstairs to make some. 

“Are you guys even allowed to have pasta in the basement?” Janus had asked curiously, and Roman just shrugged in response. 

“We can do whatever we want as long as we clean it up before Mom sees!” Remus said with a small cackle. 

Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Roman just knew he was thinking back to the great mice incident of 2018. 

_“Remus where did you even find a rAT-?” Virgil shrieked, jumping on top of the couch._

_“This is most arguably not a rat, Virgil,” Logan said, from his own perch atop the coffee table. “If you look closely you can clearly see that both the ears and tail are proportionally longer in relation to the rest of its body than a rat’s are. This rodent would be classified as a mouse.”_

_Remus just let out another cackle. “I found a whole bunch of them on the side of the road, so I picked them up and put them in my backpack for warmth!”_

_“A whole bunch of them?” The little color remaining in Virgil’s face seemed to drain from it._

_“I think they were a family. I couldn’t split them up, Virge, you know I couldn’t!” Remus giggled as one of the other mice ran across his foot. “Hey there little guy!” he said, distracted._

_“And you didn’t anticipate that they would chew through the bottom of your bookbag?" Roman stared at his brother, holding the pizza boxes above his head and doing a strange dance, as though to shake phantom mice off of his legs. “More importantly, it didn’t occur to you not to bring them inside our house?”_

_“That was indeed foolish,” Logan agreed._

_“To be fair, they didn’t come out until they smelled the pizza,” Remus protested. “So if you think about that, it really isn’t my fault, it’s yours, Patton!”_

_“Hey there Kiddo, no need to play the blame game,” Patton said from the center of the room, frowning a bit and looking generally uncomfortable._

That had been an experience that Roman was not keen to repeat, no matter how many times Remus had pointed out that he and Logan had wrangled all the mice up before their mom even came home and it was _fine_ and he needed to stop worrying so much, he would go gray when he was thirty. 

“He’s right, we can get away with a lot more than we should be allowed to,” Roman finally said, turning to look back at Janus. 

“Woah, was that a look of shared trauma I just saw?” Janus asked in response, grinning a little bit. 

“We’ll be saving that story for another day,” Roman said with a small laugh. Even though they had spent an hour of scouring the room for spare droppings and holes chewed in furniture when the mice were gone, he was sure they hadn’t found them all. It was a miracle their mother never found out. 

“I’ll be holding you to that,” Janus said, applying some chapstick absentmindedly and smacking his lips. Roman caught himself staring. 

After a couple more minutes, Patton re-emerged, calling them up to grab their pasta. “Hey kids, what do you call a faux noodle?” he joked. “An im- _pasta!”_

Virgil groaned. “Oof.” 

Even the sleeping arrangements weren’t as awkward as Roman had worried they would be with another person there. Virgil had obviously claimed the giant beanbag, no one fought him on that. Remus and Logan took the two separate ends of the couch, mostly out of convenience and inertia, not because it was particularly comfortable. Patton had a designated sleeping bag at the house, from the first time he had slept over, and he laid it out in front of the TV, parallel with Logan and Remus. Roman usually swapped up where he slept from time to time, but as of right now he was sleeping in a long chair off to the side of the room. Janus just grabbed as many of the remaining blankets as he could and made himself a kind of nest off to the side. 

They took brushing their teeth and the like in shifts of two, since their house only had so many bathrooms, and then they were good to go. As Roman shimmied down a little further in his big chair, he could hear his friend’s breathing evening out, and his smiled. This was almost like Patton’s first night sleeping over, everything just seemed to click into place. 

_Patton snored when he slept. Not a lot, just little soft noises every now and then. Roman laid on the floor, blanket pulled up to his chin, eyes wide open, just listening. Roman knew that he himself was a sound sleeper, very quiet, but he could hear Patton’s soft breathing with a kind of unparalleled clarity. That was okay, it was relaxing, in its own way. To his left, Logan was sprawled out, his own face pressed deeply into his pillow. If he didn’t know any better, Roman would worry about his friend suffocating._

_“Is anyone awake?” he whispered into the blankness._

_For a moment, there was nothing. Then…_

_“Yeah bro, what’s up?”_

_Remus. Remus was still up. That made sense. Remus talked in his sleep sometimes, but that only happened if he actually got any sleep during the night._

_“Patton’s really nice,” Roman said in response._

_“Yeah, I’m glad you invited him along this week,” Remus said. “It’s different, but a good kind of different.”_

_“And he doesn’t snore half as loudly as you sleep talk,” Roman teased his brother. “Immediate bonus.”_

_“Oh shut up, dork,” Remus said, and Roman could hear his twin’s smile._

_“I mean it though,” Roman said, biting his lip. “Patton is so nice, and sweet, and caring. He just… gets us. All of us. I don’t know how he does it but he clicks in like a missing puzzle piece.”_

_“What are you trying to say? Is Patton your new crush of the week?” Remus said with a dark laugh. “He’d better not be.”_

_“Why not?” Roman retorted, offended. Next to him, Logan rolled over for a moment before returning to his original position. “So what if he is? Do you like him too?”_

_Remus’ laugh turned hollow. The clock on the wall behind them ticked on. “Not my type,” he said curtly, before explaining. “Bro, I’m fine with you pining after everything with two thumbs and a dick within spitting distance, but I don’t think Patton likes_ anyone _like that.”_

_Roman just nodded, accepting the information and ignoring the jab about his romantic nature. “Crushes don’t have to go anywhere,” he whispered in return. “I just think he’s neat.”_

  
All in all, Roman had to call the night a success. He lay here, completely content and surrounded by people that he adored, people he had memories to last a lifetime with. What else could a fun filled sleepover with all his closest companions even be classified as?   
  
Well, his closest companions and Janus, who had been on Roman’s mind so much recently he felt close enough with the boy to lump him in there already. That thought made him smile, and Roman closed his eyes, listening to everyone else’s quiet breathing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lol hi again guys I am rocketing through chapters and I don't know how I'm doing it. Aywho I hoped you enjoyed this mess of a chapter with not one but three separate, slightly out of order flashbacks
> 
> If y'all have any questions about the story or if it's being too confusing I'm happy to explain, I've been trying to make it obvious what's happening/who's speaking (since it's all male pronouns being used here!) but idk how well I'm doing. You all are incredible incredible people and I don't think I've ever smiled more than when I get to read through all the nice things you say!! :D


	10. Pavlov Effect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've broken 20kt words guys!!! Yay!!! :D

The moment his friends walked out the door Saturday Roman began his planning. It was clear that his brother and Logan had more than made up for whatever was going on with them on Friday, and they seemed closer than ever. However, he knew the two boys like the back of his hand, and he knew neither of them were going to make the first move. So he texted Janus. 

_ Roman: Hey doll, can I get your help with something? It’s important. _

Okay so maybe it wasn’t important, at least not in the typical sense, but lets be honest; Roman was fed up with not meddling in things, and he needed to get his attention.

He only had to wait a moment more before his phone chimed, alerting him to the quick response. His heart fluttered a little. Janus probably wasn’t even home yet, and here he was, already texting him back. 

_ Janus: Everything okay? Did I leave something at your house?  _

_ Roman: No, of course not!  _

_ Roman: I think we should try and get Logan and Remus together.  _

_ Janus: Didn’t things go off the rails when you interfered before?  _

Roman sighed. Sure, maybe they had told him to stay out of it  _ then, _ but they didn’t mean forever! Surely they didn’t mean forever...

_ Roman: Perhaps a little, but that just means it’s less likely to happen again in the future~ _

_ Janus: Yes, because that logic doesn’t seem flawed in the slightest.  _

Roman rolled his eyes. He had eaten a late breakfast when all the boys had woken up that morning, but he was kind of hungry again, so he snagged an apple from his kitchen, sitting down on one of their almost bar stool-esque chairs to snack while he texted. 

_ Roman: Awww come on, it’ll be good for them!  _

_ Janus: What are you proposing? _

Roman nearly pumped his fist with excitement. Yes! Quickly, he began to text back, different ideas springing to mind. 

It was Monday again before they knew it. Roman was practically buzzing with excitement. Not only had Janus agreed to help him in slowly and subtly shoving Remus and Logan at one another, but this gave him an excuse to text back and forth with the other boy practically twenty four seven. If he was being fair, not a lot of their texting actually pertained to the scheming, but that was perfectly okay in Roman’s book. Janus was fun to talk to, the perfect mix of witty and sarcastic. However, he sported a sweeter, more tender side as well. Roman took an unfair amount of delight in learning how to bring that side out of him.

“I’m sorry, I just can’t accept that there is even a remote possibility of any of the SCP… myths being classified as ‘facts’,” Logan said, with a roll of his eyes. “I would go as far as to classify the stories as factoids, however one could not argue that they were meant for anything other than entertainment.” 

“It’s true! There’s a giant eel on the bottom of the river and it hypnotizes and eats people!” Remus shrieked, slumping against Logan’s shoulder dramatically and putting one hand over his face dramatically. “It’s gruesome and horrible and deadly!” 

Janus just laughed. 

“It’s true, you know,” Virgil whispered, eyes glinting under his fringe. 

“You can’t be serious-” Janus had started, when he was interrupted. 

“Nooooo,” Patton practically whined from beside him, shaking his head quickly from side to side. 

“Oh,” Janus looked over at him. “Patton, it’s okay, they’re just messing around. Most of the SCP creatures can’t scientifically exist on this planet.” Hesitantly, he reached out and very softly patted his friend’s shoulder. Patton’s eyes locked onto the charm bracelet on his arm, his face lighting up as his mood did a complete one eighty.    
  
“You’re still wearing it!” He exclaimed. 

Janus looked shocked. “Of… of course, it was a gift,” he said softly, retracting his hand. “I would never intentionally take it off.” 

Patton just let out a little squeal of happiness, and Roman and Virgil found themselves sporting unintentional matching grins at that. Patton’s happiness was infective. When the blonde haired boy was in a good mood it seemed to grow to fill the available space.

“Well that’s just lovely,” Remus interjected, shattering the moment. “On the topic of taking things off, who wants to help me convince this nerd over here to go streaking with me later? For some reason he keeps saying no…” 

Logan shoved him off the bench. Roman sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was going to be harder than he thought. 

In third block, Roman attempted the first ‘phase’ of his plan; talk obsessively about Remus to Logan and talk his brother up to make Logan acknowledge that he was really super duper in love with him. 

“So Logan, how’s Remus been?” Roman said to start the conversation, not really thinking things through but excited to start his plan.

Logan stared at him. “You also saw him with us at lunch, did you not?” He looked at Janus for conformation, and the other boy nodded, looking a little amused. “He is also your brother, so logically speaking, you would have more insight into how he’s been ‘feeling’ than any of us would.” 

“Right, right.” Roman clicked his tongue. This whole ‘saying nice flowery things about someone to paint them in the perfect light’ thing was harder than it looked! “Of course. Stupid question.” He laughed. It came out stilted. 

“Roman are you feeling alright?” Logan asked him. 

Janus jumped in before Roman had to respond. “I just think that what Roman was trying to get at was the improvement we’ve all seen in Remus’ mood lately,” he said. “He seems to really be enjoying hanging out with everyone.” Behind Logan’s back, he shot Roman a shrug. 

Logan gave him a strange look as well. “I suppose if his mood has improved, I haven’t really noticed. It tracks that he would enjoy spending copious amounts of time with a group of individuals that he is close to, so I would have to assume that your observations are correct.”

Well this was not going according to plan. “All that I’m saying is that Remus is a really nice guy,” Roman said, cutting in again. “If you dig deep, deep,  _ deep  _ into his personality, he’s actually quite… nice.” 

Janus shot him a thumbs up while Logan’s gaze was elsewhere. ‘Smooth,’ the skinny boy mouthed, smirking a little. 

“Why would-?” the question died in Logan’s throat. “Oh, I see what’s going on here.” 

“What? Nothing’s going on here, we’re just having a friendly conversation, as friends do,” Roman corrected him, his voice only about an octave higher than usual. 

“You are trying to help me by meddling again, aren’t you?” Logan said, looking at him disapprovingly. “I have told you Roman, your help is not desired at this moment. I have dealt with the situation, and it is no longer an issue. Remus and I have come to an agreement, and we are no longer angry with one another. Our conundrum is no longer a source of conflict, and it will no longer negatively impact the group. Let it go.” 

Roman pouted the rest of the day. 

_ Janus: Well that went spectacularly.  _

_ Roman: Don’t hold back doll, tell me how you really feel _

_ Roman: I get it if you don’t want to help me anymore. It seems that Logan really is content with living out the rest of his days in the friend zone... _

_ Janus: oh where did I say I wouldn’t be helping you anymore? No, I just think it’s time we try my idea.  _

Roman breathed out a sigh of relief at that. It wouldn’t be very princely for him to give up after just the first try, however if Janus declined to partake in the scheming further, he had a sickening feeling he wouldn’t want to continue trying either. 

_ Janus: Besides, doing this with you is the most fun I’ve had… ever.  _

His heart was doing jumping jacks. 

_ Roman: Let's get to work then. :) _

Janus’ approach was far more subtle, but it was supposed to take a lot longer than Roman’s initial idea. As an instant gratification kind of guy, this bummed him out a bit, but Janus assured him that his idea was nearly foolproof. 

Every time Logan brought up Remus’ name, Janus simply took a piece of candy out of his backpack and handed it to him. The first time he’d done it, Logan had been thrown completely off track, stopping in the middle of his sentence to turn to the smaller boy. 

“What’s this?” Logan held the offending candy gingerly.

“Jawbreaker,” Janus replied, chewing on his sandwich and acting generally aloof. Virgil and Patton exchanged a look.

“...Why?” Logan finally replied. 

“I felt like sharing.” Janus stood up. “I’m going to go throw away my trash.” And that was the end of the conversation. 

For a while, Roman thought the plan was working. Logan never asked about the candy again, even as he mentioned Remus in the conversation increasingly more with each day. Janus was so giddy with the adrenaline of the situation that he hugged Roman around the waist during one of the rehearsals, and if Roman had felt happy before, that was nothing compared to this. 

Then, he ran into Logan and Remus after rehearsal on Thursday. Well, more accurately, he was watching his brother and best friend interact with the ridiculous hope that they would profess their undying love for one another out of the blue, but that was beside the point. As he watched, Logan dug through his bag, finally pulling out a tiny ziplock of hard candies and handed them to Remus. 

His brother clapped his hands like a four year old and grinned. Whatever Logan said next, Roman was too far away to hear, but the two of them laughed heartily a moment later. Then, Remus reached out and poked Logan’s nose before walking away, already popping one of the candies in his mouth, wrapper and all. 

“What the hell?” Roman couldn’t help himself, beginning to walk over to Logan. 

Logan just smirked, looking over at him. “If you’re trying not to be seen, you’re not doing a very good job,” he commented, stepping forward as well and meeting Roman in the middle. 

“What was that?” Roman said, ignoring the flush in his cheeks at Logan’s statement. 

“Exactly what it looks like,” Logan replied. “I was delivering a large bag of hard candies to your brother, which will probably be inhaled in one sitting, most likely sometime after 2 am.”

“But those were-” Roman shut his mouth.  _ Fantastic.  _ “Never mind,” he muttered.

“Disappointed that your attempt to execute a Pavlov effect was a failure?” Logan said, and was that a slight mocking edge to his tone, or was Roman just imagining things? 

Roman’s eyes went wide. “A what?” he asked dumbly. 

“Oh come on, you must have had more faith in my intelligence than that,” Logan protested, rolling his eyes. “Your blatant attempt to get me to associate Remus with high sugar snacks would have been seen as a reasonable idea at first glance, however your little plan falls apart when you take into account my great love of Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning as well as my affinity for general observation.” Logan shrugged. “Once I figured out what exactly I had to say to acquire the candy, I used that information to collect a portion to give to Remus.” At Roman’s incredulous look, Logan elaborated a little bit. “He loves jawbreakers. I, however, am not a great lover of sweets. You of all people should know that, Roman.”

_ Great,  _ Roman thought.  _ I don’t even know who this Pavlov guy is, and at this point, I’m too embarrassed to ask. _

Logan just sighed, his smug persona fading a bit. “Roman, you must understand that the situation is already under control, please cease your meddling. I am perfectly content with the way things are right now.” 

As Logan walked away, Roman pulled out his phone. 

_ Roman: Plan B is a bust. Logan’s too smart for us _

_ Janus: Damn, you’re kidding _

_ Janus: :( _

_ Roman: I think it’s time to move onto someone a little less intelligent. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a lot of fun with this chapter, and I hope you had just as much fun reading it as I did writing it. Drop a comment if you want, I'd love to hear from you!


	11. "To Brainstorm"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After your brief break of like three days from my crazed posting, I'm back with two chapters in another 24 hour period. >:) You will never escape me. 
> 
> (lmao hiiiii guys you're all so lovely ily so much and I've had so much inspiration for this story recently I just had to keep going and you all have been so nice and sweet and not judgey of my passion project and I couldn't ask for better readers T-T)

Remus proved to be just as difficult as Logan in a completely different way. 

“So,” Roman had practically purred, leaning over their sink that morning and smiling at his brother. He had made a point of getting dressed especially quickly just so he could begin to gently harass his brother as early as possible. “You and Logan made up, huh?” 

“Yeah, a little while ago,” Remus said, offhand. He picked up the mascara and unscrewed the cap, raising the brush to his eyelashes. “It was nice. Hey, do you think we can pick up some more mascara later today? We’re getting low.” 

“In what way was it nice?” Roman said, examining his nails. Then, “Yeah, we’ll grab some after rehearsal.” 

Remus just shrugged. “Nice in the way of I’m not fighting with the dork anymore. That’s nice. I classify that as nice.”

Roman just frowned.  _ Is he just messing with me? Maybe Logan told him. _ “I see,” he said, trying not to let his disappointment show.

It seemed that no matter what he said to his brother, it was always received the same way. Remus would brush disinterestedly past him. It was almost like he was making an effort to avoid seeming too invested in the conversation. Roman was starting to wonder if Remus was a lost cause. 

He and Janus both. It had barely been three days of trying to get at Remus, whether they be just abusing Logan’s name in conversation, hinting that someone nearby may have a crush on Remus, or just flat out saying things like “Wow, that Logan dude is hot.” 

For what it was worth, Remus always agreed with them on that last one, but then again, Remus thought everyone was hot. So it probably wasn’t actually worth as much as it should have been. Roman could have pointed to a dumpster and commented how attractive it was and Remus would have absentmindedly agreed with him.  _ I thought he would be the easier option!  _

_ Roman: This is surprisingly not going to plan _

_ Janus: That’s a surprise to you? We’re talking about Remus here. _

Roman sighed, sliding down his couch until he rested comfortably in his sofa crease and texting him back.

_ Roman: It’s a disappointment for sure.  _

It was a while before Janus texted back again. 

_ Janus: Maybe we should go somewhere  _

There was a brief pause. 

_ Janus: To brainstorm or something.  _

A little too eagerly, Roman agreed. Since he had the car, he texted to say he would pick Janus up in a couple of minutes. Glancing at the time, he raced up to the bathroom. Splashing some water in his face and brushing some stray curls out of his line of vision, he gave himself a quick once-over in the mirror. Nodding to himself, he grabbed his old football jacket on the way out of the house. He saw it was going to be quite cool for a spring day outside. He already knew exactly where he wanted to take him.

Janus was already outside of his house when Roman picked him up. He stood up like he’d been yanked to his feet with strings, briskly walking over to the van and sliding into the passenger seat smoothly. “Where to first?” he asked in that silky smooth voice of his, and it was all Roman could do not to let out a small sigh at his voice. This was  _ so much  _ better than just texting. 

“Alas, that is for me to know and for you to find out,” he just said, with a large grin. “Adventure awaits, and so we must be off!” 

Janus laughed. “I’ll follow your lead then.” 

He brought Janus to what might be classified as his favorite place. If it wasn’t that, then it at least held the most memories. Pulling off the main road a little ways away from their city’s mall, he went over a couple more hills and took a left and there it was. In front of them stood an ancient theatre, run down and unused for years. 

“Woah,” Janus said softly, craning his neck slightly to look up at the building through the windshield. “Is this safe?” 

“I’ve been coming here for years, it hasn’t collapsed on me yet,” Roman said cheerfully, but after examining Janus’ face, he quickly tacked on, “If anything seems unstable we don’t have to stay. I just wanted to show you this place.” 

Janus smiled at that. “And what exactly is this place to you?” 

“The first place I ever performed onstage,” Roman said, sliding out of the car. On the other side, Janus mirrored his actions. 

“I find that a little hard to believe” he replied softly, kicking a vine off his foot. He had a fair point, the place looked like it hadn’t been used in decades. 

Roman laughed, beginning to walk through the open doors in front of them. “Well… I suppose that’s only mostly true. My parents… my Dad used to take me here when Remus and I were little. I mean sure, he took us tons of places, but this was  _ our _ special place. Remus never came with us when we drove here.” 

Janus stiffened as he looked around them, glimpsing the barest possibility of what this place could have meant to the man standing next to him. “Oh,” he replied, no louder than before. 

“Whenever I was feeling down, bad grades in school, friend issues, whatever, he’d take me here and help me explore. We cleaned out most of the extra junk in here ourselves.” 

Janus believed that part, it was strangely clean inside the building for a place that had clearly been run down for so long. The high ceilings had been a brilliant red, and while it sagged in a couple of places, the marble pillars that accented every opening were still standing strong. Even as he stood, looking in on the rows and rows of chairs and the grand stage in front of them, Janus could feel an unquestionable feeling of peace wash over him. 

Roman grinned, grabbing his hand. “Come on.” 

They ran down the center aisle, straight towards the stage, laughing and giggling. They would never be able to do this anywhere else, but for the moment, Janus felt safer than he ever had. 

Roman hoisted himself onto the high stage easily, pushing himself up with his arms and then shimming around to face Janus again. “Come on up,” he said with a grin.

Janus joined him without a second thought, and then he was standing on the platform and looking out on the audience, and Roman was speaking again, using the same, slightly awed voice as before. 

“I used to perform up here, for Dad. He was so excited just to watch me, so excited to help in any way he could. I sang and danced and acted and goofed off, and he applauded me all the same no matter what.” Roman smiled wistfully. “It was one of his biggest dreams to fix this place up.” 

Janus looked over at the boy next to him. Roman was right there, but his eyes were far away. Almost excruciatingly slowly, so as not to startle him, Janus reached out and interlaced their fingers. Roman’s hand fit perfectly around his own. 

\-----

Logan and Remus were sitting on Roman’s porch, kicking their legs and just talking. A breeze ruffled their hair, sending ripples through the grass. Finally, Logan brought up the thing that had been on his mind these past few days. “Remus?” 

“Mmh?” Remus turned to look at him fondly, giving him a little smile. 

“I’ve been meaning to bring it up for a while, but…” Logan sighed.  _ How was he supposed to phrase this?  _ “You remember how I explained earlier that Roman was trying to Pavlov me into dating you?” 

Remus nodded, snickering. “What a fucking nerd.” 

“I believe that particular plan was actually Janus’ idea,” Logan corrected, before continuing. “It is to my belief that they have moved on to harassing you, for lack of a better word, in hopes that they can convince you to ask me out instead of the other way around.” 

Remus was dead silent for a moment. Then he cracked up. Full on, sides splitting, tears in his eyes laughter. “You’re kidding me!” He finally said, brushing his green tinted hair out of his eyes and slapping his thigh. His nails were a matte black. “Why-?” 

“ _ Anyways, _ ” Logan said, cutting in with a quick smirk. “Knowing them, they would have already started bringing me up in conversation a couple of days ago, have you noticed anything different about their topics and choices of conversation?” 

Remus stopped and considered it for a moment. “Nope!” He shrugged and laughed. “Oh well, maybe they’ll start soon. I’d mess with them so hard.” 

“Interesting,” Logan said, in that way that he said things when he believed Remus was being either intentionally or unintentionally obtuse. He took a moment to try and figure out which of the above it was. 

“Hey Logan?” Remus finally said, with a smirk. 

“Yes?” 

“There are twenty-six letters in the alphabet, right?” Remus couldn’t help the massive grin already covering his face. 

_ Wait a minute…  _ “You’ve messed up the pick up line, Remus, you need to say twenty one letters instead of twenty six for the line to ‘work,’” Logan said, brow furrowing in confusion. 

“No I didn’t mess it up, you dork! I could never forget that U R A Q T!” Remus exclaimed, scrunching up his nose as he laughed. 

Logan rolled his eyes and shoved him off the porch step, but there was a light flush covering his cheeks. “Falsehood,” he murmured. 

  
Remus just kept laughing, sprawled out on the ground below him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So y'all are just a bunch of Logan stans then, huh? I got like seven or eight comments on the last chapter and they were all about Logan lmao. Well, since I am with you on that front, I hope you enjoyed the little bonus add on at the end of this chapter as much as I did writing it. :D
> 
> Fun fact (since someone commented that they love how I write Logan and my heart just DIED): 
> 
> Logan is my favorite character to write, just because his way of speaking is the easiest for me to mimic. Second favorite would probably be Remus, because he's just slightly unhinged enough to make it fun, and I get to harass you all with gross facts. Janus is third, since I've taken a bit less of a literal translation of his character up until this point (not much lying) and he's snarky. Kind of awkward though that Roman doesn't even make the top three...


	12. Interruptions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So um this is nowhere near what I had planned for this chapter but by the time I remembered that fact I was done with 2200 words so I guess this is what happened. Shoutout to my brain for whatever the heck this chapter is. :/

They spent the rest of the day in the theatre. When the sunlight was finally dying and the reddish orange glow illuminated everything around them, they danced. This would have been a very sweet and touching moment had Janus had any clue whatsoever how to dance. 

“Come on,” Roman had said, raising their clasped hands. “Dance with me.” 

Warning bells had immediately gone off in Janus’ mind at that, though his eyes widened only minimally. “Oh, please, I wouldn’t want to-”

“Nonsense!” Roman dismissed with a grin. “Come on, for me?” he said, a bit more subdued.

Finally, Janus sighed. “I will warn you, a dancer I am not.” 

Roman just laughed. “You can’t be worse than Remus,” he replied without missing a beat. Oh well. Janus would be missing plenty of beats later. He really meant it when he said he couldn’t dance. 

They settled into an odd sort of space, Roman pulling the skinnier boy close to him as they danced and placing his free hand on his waist. They waltzed to the rhythmic beat of the silence around them. Roman smiled as their foreheads touched, leading both of them through the slow motions. _This was so relaxing,_ he thought with a smile. 

_This is so stressful._ That was the only thought running through Janus’ head as he stumbled over himself again to avoid stepping on Roman’s feet. Biting his lip from the concentration, he didn’t notice Roman’s fond smirk until it was too late. 

“A little drunk?” Roman offered as he watched his partner sway a little too far to the left again. 

“I told you I couldn’t dance,” Janus mumbled back to him, another tinge of embarrassment crossing his features. 

“No worries, doll,” Roman chuckled, reaching up and cupping Janus’ cheek in his palm. He could feel a burning cold where Roman’s hand had been resting only moments earlier. “I’ll keep you steady.” His hand fell back to its spot on Janus’ waist naturally. 

“I don’t get how you do this so gracefully with music,” Janus mumbled a couple of moments later, “let alone without it.” 

“It’s in my blood,” Roman responded. “My mother was a model in her slightly younger days, after all.”

“Oh that sounds like fun,” Janus responded, not meaning it at all. Even just the thought of all those people staring at him sounded awful. He resisted a small shudder. 

“She certainly loved it,” Roman agreed. “I was lucky enough to inherit her poise. Remus, however…” He just chuckled. “Toss up. Will he be able to twirl around the kitchen effortlessly or will he trip over his own feet walking in a straight line? Who knows. Not Remus, that’s for sure.” 

Janus laughed at that, a little chuckle that made Roman’s heart race. He was positive the taller boy could hear his heartbeat pick up, their chests were pressed together after all, and he felt a little smidge of _emotion_ deep down in his chest. 

“Well,” Janus purred, “You certainly got the better end of that deal.” 

“I like to think so,” Roman replied, and they lapsed into silence again. 

It was nearly completely dark out by the time they left the theatre. Stars were beginning to make themselves known, twinkling in the darkness surrounding them.  
  
“Wow,” Janus whispered, looking up. “It’s so clear out here.” 

“We aren’t that far from the rest of the town,” Roman said, a little confused. “The view’s pretty much the same over there too.” 

“No, I mean _here,_ ” Janus emphasized. “Not where I came from.” 

“And when are you ever going to actually tell us where that is?” Roman asked him quietly. 

Janus shrugged, looking back over his shoulder at Roman and grinning. “Who knows. Maybe never. It adds to the allure.”  
  
“I do love me a good mystery,” Roman agreed, sliding onto the hood of his van with a bit of difficulty, but he had committed to it and there was no turning back now.  
  
He got a chuckle for that. “I’m glad to hear it, not many people like to stick around long enough to try and figure it out.” There was a thunk as Janus pushed himself up onto the hood of the van with him, wincing slightly as he tried to figure out how to get comfortable. 

“Oh, you’re not getting rid of me anytime soon, doll,” Roman promised, tacking on, “of course, unless you want me gone,” quickly after. He turned to look at the other boy, coming face to face with his shimmering green and brown eyes. _Oh shit, he’s pretty._

“That’s the last thing I want,” Janus breathed out, and they were so close together now. Roman could feel his eyes burning into his soul, and he let his own eyes flick down to Janus’ lips. He let himself begin to lean in, closing his eyes, when there was a sudden loud noise and Janus leapt back from him like he’d been burnt. 

It was like he’d broken a glass over Roman’s head. Their moment was gone in the blink of an eye, shattered into a million pieces.

“Shit!” Jumping off the car in his surprise and confusion and fumbling in his pocket, Janus finally pulled out the source of the noise- his phone. “M-my mom’s calling,” he explained shakily, accepting the call and putting the phone to his ear. “Hello?” His face was a brilliant, fire truck red, and Roman was sure his own face matched in coloring. He had never felt so many emotions at once. 

There was a moment of silence, during which Janus’ face lost all its color and Roman’s heart tried to leap out of his throat and dive onto the cold hard concrete below them. 

“Okay.” Janus looked like he would rather be anywhere but here. “Okay, I promise. I’ll see you soon. Love y-” He pulled the phone away from his ear with a sigh. Roman realized that he’d been hung up on. “I need to get back home,” Janus informed him, quieter than before, biting his lip awkwardly. Bashful, almost. “Sorry. Her words, not mine.”

“Right,” Roman nodded, processing everything that had just happened. As if in a trance, his legs took him to his car door, opening it and sliding into the worn seat. To his right, Janus did the same. They drove home in awkward silence, neither of them willing to rock the boat. 

“Goodnight Janus,” Roman whispered quietly as they pulled up to his house. 

“Goodnight, Roman.” The response was just as tentative, and then he heard the soft close of the car door. 

_“Shit,”_ Roman whispered, even quieter than before. _Why didn’t you just say something, you idiot?_

Remus greeted him at the front door with a huge grin. “So then,” he drawled, following Roman into the house. “Where has my baby brother been all day, hmm? Lo and I must have waited an eternity for you to get back, I was ready to string all of my internal organs up on our clothesline-” 

“Just drop it Remus, okay?” Roman cut in. What was supposed to be an aloof, dismissive statement turned into a little bit more of a broken plea, his voice cracking at the end. 

Immediately, Remus’ entire being stiffened. His eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation, his lips pursing together. “What happened?” he asked, his voice a deadly sort of calm. 

Roman looked over at his brother, wearing an old rumpled Nasa shirt, wavy hair pulled back into the world’s smallest ponytail, and sporting an extremely concerned look. “I tried to kiss him,” he whispered. The words hung in the open air between them. And then two things happened. 

Roman absolutely dissolved into tears, covering his face with both hands and weeping. Remus was at his side immediately, muttering curses of every manner. “I’ll kill him,” Remus promised in a low voice. “I’ll rip out his spine through his nostrils, I’ll pull out his appendix and cram it through his ear canal, I’ll rip out _his_ intestines and string them up like Christmas lights, I’ll take a cleaver down the center of his d-” 

Roman just sobbed a little bit harder, and Remus shut his mouth immediately, most likely realizing that his words were not helping in any way. Probably for the best. Gatsby poked his head around the corner, locating Roman immediately and trotting over. 

Roman couldn’t help it, he was an emotional person by nature. When the hot tears threatened to drip down his face, he didn’t try and stop them. From his protective spot curled around him, Remus gave his brother a concerned look. 

“What happened?” His brother didn’t sound eccentric anymore, nor did he sound angry. Now his voice just radiated a sort of comforting emptiness. Remus rubbed his brother’s shoulder gently and waited for Roman to respond. “Did he hurt you?” 

Roman shook his head quickly. “I took him to Dad’s place,” he said softly. He knew without looking that Remus’ face was a mixture of shock and anger. “We were just looking up at the stars and he was so close to me and…” he sniffled. “I leaned in, and he did too, and then his phone rang.” 

Remus nodded slowly, sitting Roman down on the couch. “He _didn’t_ reject you then?” he clarified, still rubbing his brother’s shoulder comfortingly. 

“I-I don’t know,” Roman said softly. “I don’t think so…” 

Remus nodded, just as slowly as before. “There’s nothing to be done about it now,” he reasoned. “Unless you think you should text him?” 

“No,” Roman said softly. “I just don’t want to think about it for a little while.” 

“Okay,” Remus agreed. “You don’t have to see him until Monday then, you have all of tomorrow to reason your way through this. You know what you need right now, bro?” 

“What?” Roman asked him quietly, rubbing his eyes absentmindedly. 

“Disney marathon,” Remus declared with authority. “It’s the prefect thing to get your mind off of everything that’s happened today!” 

“Sure,” Roman sighed, definitely not getting his mind off of everything that had happened that day. 

Remus was the best when it came to movie marathons. Not only did he pull every single blanket out of every nook and cranny in there house, but he was a cuddler, almost akin to an octopus. He let Roman hug him around the waist and put his head on his chest, and he didn’t object when hot tears bled through his T-shirt. _Actually, I’ve never seen Remus wear this shirt before. Shit, I’m getting it all dirty too._

Roman didn’t remember what movie they were watching, he didn’t even remember Remus putting on the movie in the first place. What he did remember was Remus tapping the top of his head twice, whispering “I’ll be right back, okay?” and slowly detangling himself from the mess of blankets. Someone was at their door. 

Roman could only catch snippets of their conversation over the movie. 

“-nks for coming so quickly.”

“Of course… the issue?” 

“-about me, it’s Roman. I know you-“ 

And then Remus walked back through the door, Logan trailing behind him tentatively. 

_Logan? Why was Logan the first one Remus called?_ Roman wondered. “Hello there, my friend,” he said quietly, knowing that his voice lacked its usual pep but finding himself unwilling to try and add any. “What here requires your presence at…” he glanced at the clock. “Nine thirty three pm?”

“You do,” Logan replied simply as Remus stepped away from his side, returning to the nest of blankets and Roman. “I brought snacks,” his best friend offered awkwardly. 

“Thanks,” Roman said with a slightly drained smile. “If I may ask though, Specs, why did Remus call you? You kind of make a point out of not being a part of this whole emotional thing.” He gestured to himself with an embarrassed wince. 

“I was wondering that as well,” Logan said, with a look in Remus’ direction that Roman couldn’t quite place the meaning of. “My best assumption would have to be that since we are considered best friends and we have been a part of one another’s lives for longer than the average friendship spans, he would have assumed I would have some comforting words to give you.”

“Thanks for coming, I know it’s late and you didn’t have to just for me.” Roman said. 

“Falsehood.” Logan’s reply was sharp. He sat down on the edge of the couch next to Roman and Remus, putting the various snacks on the table. “You are my friend, and no matter how insignificant your issues may seem to be, it is my job to be there for you as you would be for me. I will admit that I do not understand your problem, however I will do my best to be here for you nonetheless. If you wish to talk about the odd occurrence I will listen, but if you’d rather simply distract yourself at the moment I will do whatever I can to help with that as well.” 

Roman could feel more tears pricking the corners of his eyes. “Oh,” he whispered softly. Then, again, “Thank you, Logan. You’re an amazing friend.” 

Logan gave him a small smile. “I do try my very best,” he replied.

On the coffee table, Roman's phone vibrated. He didn't bother flipping it over, didn't bother checking the caller ID. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would say all's well that ends well, but... this problem hasn't ended yet. 
> 
> (hi again everyone! I hope you liked this chapter, or hated this chapter, or felt some kind of strong emotion reading through this chapter. You all have been so nice and sweet and lovely! :D )


	13. Ring Ring

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Here's some of the fallout on Janus' end from his totally-not-a-date with Roman. 
> 
> (Also, YourLocalTheatreKid [or kiribakuandcats on Tumblr] actually drew Remus from the last chapter, with him wearing the Nasa shirt and everything???? and I'm just like... blown away, I've never had anyone do any kind of art for my work before and I'm just over here screaming, so yeah just thought I'd mention that and I don't know how to link but if you have a tumblr totally go check it out it's adorable and just so sweet and I just love you guys all so much thank you for being such amazing people <3)

Janus was freaking out. Things were awkward and he was the reason that things were awkward. He had messed up and now Roman probably hated him. Shame coursed through his entire being. 

It wasn’t intentional, he didn’t mean to pull away. In fact, there was nothing he would have liked more than to have kissed Roman under the stars. He’d only known him maybe two months, and even that was a stretch, but Janus had given up telling his emotions “no” a long time ago. If he liked the dude, he liked the dude. No point in denying it to himself. Plus, it was doubtful he would stay anywhere longer than a year at most, he needed to form connections quickly or he would be alone.  _ Like last time.  _

As soon as he’d seen his mother calling him, he’d frozen up. He knew that she was angry, but he couldn’t tell if that was his fault or not. Roman had given him a look of raw confusion and hurt, and if it were up to Janus he would have flung his phone into the weeds and vines that surrounded the abandoned theatre. But he couldn’t do that, so he’d just steeled himself and answered it. 

The moment was ruined and gone by that point, one more look at Roman had confirmed that for him. He didn’t know what he was supposed to  _ do,  _ and he didn’t know how to do it. 

_ Stupid, stupid.  _

His mom wasn’t home, of course she wasn’t home. He needed to be home, but  _ she _ certainly didn’t. Hypocrite. That was a terrible thought, his mother was working hard to provide for them, but still. She had a right to be angry at the world right now, and she had a right to take out her anger however she wanted to, but  _ still. _ He couldn’t help it. It was unfair. 

Walking into the kitchen, Janus opened the fridge. He sighed at the contents. Grabbing a juice box, he popped the top on it and took a swig, wandering through the rest of their tiny house as he did. He supposed he was lucky, he had his own room this time. Opening the door, he flicked the lightswitch on absentmindedly, the yellowish lights illuminating the space. Flopping onto the bed, Janus let out a long sigh, burying his face in the pillow. It smelled faintly of mothballs. He refused to cry. This wasn’t worth his tears. 

_ How am I going to fix this?  _ he thought to himself, rolling over and staring up at the ceiling. The fan had come on automatically when the lights had, and he watched the blades rotate round and round over his head. 

Then, he got an idea. It was a horrible, awful idea, but it was an idea, nonetheless. 

_ Janus: Hey, I know this is kind of out of the blue, but can I call you? _

He had to wait only a couple of minutes for a response, but when he got one, it was filled with as much pep and spring as one text could handle. 

_ Patton: Hey there, Kiddo! I’d be happy to. Do you mind Facetime? :) _

Janus considered this. Usually, he preferred to call simply so no one could see his face and his expressions and his surroundings, but if Patton was willing to talk to him in the first place, this was a small thing to concede to make the other boy happy. 

_ Janus: I don’t mind that in the slightest.  _

He had to wait only a moment more before the call came through, and he accepted it before he had a chance to overthink anything else. As Patton’s smiling face popped up on the screen, Janus moved himself so the mess behind him was a little more covered up. 

“Hiya!” Patton’s voice was just as chipper over the phone as it was in person. He was wearing a light purple flower crown, and he pushed his big round glasses up the bridge of his nose as he waited for Janus to respond. 

“Umm, hi,” Janus said softly. “Thanks for… ya know, actually agreeing to call me and everything.” 

“Of course I’d agree to call you Kiddo, we’re friends!” Patton looked aghast at the mere notion that he would have denied Janus’ request. 

“Still, I haven’t exactly been the most friendly,” he heard himself mumble. “And now I’m calling only to bother you with my problems.” 

“Don’t be silly, you’re not bothering me in the slightest!” Patton said with a wide grin. “I always have time to help a friend, no matter how distant we’ve been lately. Besides, this is as good a time as ever to get to know one another better.” 

“God, you are just so…” Janus shook his head in disbelief. “How are you so nice?” 

“I just don’t want anyone to feel like they don’t have anyone to talk to,” Patton said, still smiling at him. His freckles popped even more with the shitty contrast on Janus’ phone. “No one deserves to have no friends at all, that’s a horrible thought!” Patton shook his head, his floppy golden curls forming almost a halo around his head. “So, what’s the dealio then? What can I help with?” 

Janus smiled tentatively. “It’s Roman,” he said, noticing Patton’s grin falter for only a moment before it popped back up into place on his face. “He…” Janus scrunched up his nose. He really didn’t want to talk about this, even if he thought Patton could help out.

“Take your time,” Patton said softly, and Janus realized he had just kind of frozen in the middle of his sentence. “You can tell me as much or as little as you want to.” 

Janus nodded to himself. “He took me to a- someplace that was clearly very important to him, and we danced and talked and when we were getting close to going home we were outside under the stars, still talking, and…” Janus trailed off. Yeah no he  _ really _ didn’t want to say this part.

“He tried to kiss you, didn’t he?” Patton guessed, a touch of a sad smile gracing his features for a moment. 

“I- yeah.” Janus looked at him in alarm. “How did you know?”

Patton let out a sigh. “Just an educated guess. Roman is a very sweet, romantic person by nature,” he explained. “He falls fast, and he falls hard. He rushes into relationships because deep down, he just wants to be told that he’s good enough for somebody, and he’s been effectively in love with you from the moment he met you. That’s good enough evidence as any.” There was a pause, and Janus realized that it was Patton’s turn to decide whether or not he wanted to withhold information. “But I mostly guessed it because the same thing actually happened to me.” 

“What?” Janus said, a little louder than he had meant to. He clapped his own hand over his mouth quickly, but there was no one else in the house but him, so it didn’t really matter. 

“Oh gosh,” Patton said with a small chuckle. “I do hope Roman doesn’t feel too upset about me sharing any of this. I wouldn’t usually, but-” 

“Whatever happens tonight stays between us,” Janus told him. “I don’t dabble in gossip.”  _ Besides,  _ he thought,  _ I care too much about Roman to even consider repeating any of this.  _

“Well… a couple of years ago, Roman had what you kiddos would call a pretty big crush on me,” Patton said with a wince. He wasn’t looking at the screen anymore. Instead, his attention was focused on his own baby blue nails. “This was about a year before I introduced everyone to Virgil. I had been a part of the group for a while, but Roman and I had met through some vocal competition, and I knew him better than the others. I’m a pretty touchy feely person, as you may have guessed, and Roman is the same way.” 

Janus nodded, thinking back to the soft touch of Roman’s hand on his waist. 

“Well, Roman falls for everyone and I fall for no one,” Patton said softly. “We were hanging out in his basement, I forget where everyone else was at the time, but that’s beside the point. Remus had some detention and Logan was at Scholastic Scrimmage, I think. We were just watching some old movie, it’s not important. It was kinda cold, and we were under the same blanket. I don’t even know how it happened, we had just been talking, but he was suddenly leaning over me. I don’t even think he fully registered what he was doing until I pushed him away.” 

Janus felt like he was playing wheel of fortune with his emotions. Was he jealous that Roman had liked Patton? Relieved that Patton had rejected his friend? Sad that Roman felt like his self worth revolved around others? Confused as to why Patton would ever reject someone like Roman in the first place? Embarrassed for Roman’s sake? He sure as hell didn’t know. 

“What happened then?” Janus asked, his curiosity overwhelming everything else. 

“He was confused,” Patton said, “He apologized first, and asked me why I pushed him away quietly. He was so flustered and upset, and I just felt like a terrible person for ever making anyone look so sad.” 

“And what did you say?” Janus asked him, biting his lip. 

“I just told him that I didn’t feel the same way about him that he felt about me… just the same as I hadn’t ever felt that same romantic way about  _ anyone _ else,” Patton replied. “I told him it wasn’t personal, and explained the term ‘aro ace’ to him. He seemed more understanding after that, if still embarrassed. After a small awkward period, we just kind of worked out the right way to be friends again. His crush on me faded away, and he moved on. I hold him as one of my dearest friends, and vice versa. I’m sure you two can do the same thing, with time.” Patton looked sad at that thought. 

Janus was already shaking his head. “I didn’t push him away,” he said quietly. “At least… I didn’t mean to.” 

“Oh.” Patton took a moment to process that information, finally giving him a huge grin of relief. “That’s great! Oh, you two were so cute together when you were just flirting all the time, I’m so happy for you two! Did you know that you’re the only person he’s ever called ‘doll’ before?” 

“I did push him away though,” Janus said. 

“You’ve lost me.” Patton’s grin was slowly fading. “I thought you just said-”

“I didn’t mean to. My mom called in the middle of the kiss, and it startled me and I just kind of… jumped back.” Janus bit his lip. “It kind of shattered the moment for us.” 

“Well then you should explain your feelings to him, whatever they are,” Patton advised wisely. “Roman’s an emotional boy, sure, but he’s a smart cookie. He’ll understand if you just got a little spooked! Heck, if his mom called him while he was off doing whatever I’m sure he would have been a little freaked out too. He should understand, especially if he likes you as much as he lets on!” 

Janus nodded slowly, processing Patton’s words. “When should I tell him?” he asked Patton quietly. 

“Oh, as soon as possible, I’d say!” Patton nodded back at him. “It would be best to clear everything up as quickly as possible, so Roman doesn’t do that thing he does where he lets the issue consume him.” 

“Right, got it.” Janus nodded. “I don’t think I can thank you enough, Patton. I know we really haven’t talked that much and it was probably weird for you to just pick up and have me harassing you with my problems, but I really appreciate how understanding you are and I feel bad that this is pretty much the first time we’ve really gotten to speak for any extended period of time.” 

Patton was already shaking his head, dismissing Janus’ fears. “You aren’t to blame that we don’t have any classes together, kiddo! Besides, you don’t need to keep apologizing for bothering me, because you really aren’t! I’m thrilled you felt comfortable enough to come to me!”

Janus gave him a small smile. He must have that whole speech down to a T, if people came to him with their issues as often as the group implied.

“Hmm,” Patton continued, looking thoughtful. “Virgil and I are going out to see a movie and grab some food tomorrow, how would you like to come with us?” He hastened to reassure Janus with, “Of course, there’s absolutely no pressure to, but we could pick you up and drop you off and I can completely cover your cost if you need me to.” He shrugged. “It would be nice to get to know you even better though, and I can’t think of a better way than a fun outing with friends!” 

“I’ve got nothing on my schedule,” Janus offered, offering him another tentative smile. “Sounds like fun.” 

“Yay!” Patton cheered, clapping his hands together in delight. “I’ll text you the details in a couple of minutes, just so you can let your parents know where you’ll be and when you’ll be there.” 

“That sounds splendid,” Janus replied, then, “Seriously Patton, you’re a lifesaver. Thank you so much.” 

“It was my pleasure, Kiddo! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Patton waved at him through the screen, and then it went black. 

Staring at himself in his own phone screen for a moment, Janus nodded to himself again. “Alright,” he muttered, opening up his contacts and clicking on Romans. “Here goes nothing.”    
  
Clicking the ‘call’ button, he put the phone to his ear and let the phone ring… 

And ring… 

And ring....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please please let me know if anything I did with Patton being aro ace was offensive or just not correctly phrased or any of that, since I am not personally aroace I wasn't quite sure how to write it, but I really felt like it suited Patton's character and I've been referencing it up to this point, but I will change anything that people tell me is offensive! :)
> 
> So, I have a couple options for the next chapter... I'm just going to throw them out here as a possible teaser... just cause
> 
> 1) We could get some of Virgil, Patton, and Janus' movie outing and bonding  
> 2) We could get some of that sweet, sweet borderline angst between Roman and Janus  
> 3) I could maybe throw in another Logan bit... just for the heck of it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> I guess we'll just have to see :D


	14. Mediocre

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They're both still pretty broken up about it... but then again, they're teenagers, who can blame them? 
> 
> (ft. Logan, back by popular demand and because I like writing him more than is strictly necessary. There's always room for Logan and if there isn't, I'll make room.)

Logan awoke on Sunday to a multitude of different texts, an uncommon occurrence. Not one of them were actually on their big group chat, an even more uncommon occurrence. He also had a small, furry dog still sleeping on his stomach, the most uncommon occurrence, seeing as Logan didn’t have a dog. _Oh right, last night was a thing._ His parents were usually quite understanding about the escapades at the Prince household, but he hadn’t sent them a text asking to remain on their property overnight. Hopefully, they didn’t worry too much about his wellbeing. 

Patton had sent him a concerned text, though how he had found about any of the events that had transpired the night before was beyond Logan. Perhaps Janus had gone to Patton, same as he himself had been summoned to comfort Roman.

_Patton: Hey there Kiddo, I’m just checking in to see how Roman’s holding up. I heard about last night._

Remus had sent him several texts, and each one filled Logan with a different type of concern and/or discomfort.

_Remus: I made pancakes_

_Remus: Well, I tried to_

_Remus: Lolo, where’s the mop? No reason_

_Remus: When you wake up you’d better come up here and make Roman eat something_

_  
_ Even Virgil had sent him a text. 

_Virgil: For the love of all that is good and holy what the everliving fuck did I miss?_

Logan shook his head, there was no way that he had the time to accurately fill Virgil in, but Remus was right upstairs, most likely with Roman as well. Slowly pushing the dog off of himself, Logan stretched his long legs and walked up the basement stairs, cracking his neck and stretching a bit. 

“Snap crackle pop,” Remus said in way of a greeting. He was perched on one of their various kitchen stools, spooning cereal into his mouth with a fork. “Morning, specs.” 

Logan rolled his eyes fondly, feeling a sudden rush of appreciation for the man in front of him. Remus’ hair was tousled from sleep and his shirt was all wrinkly now, but the flash of excitement in his eyes when he saw Logan could not have been mistaken for anything else. 

“Hello, Remus,” Logan responded, making sure to keep any trace of emotion from his still somewhat gravelly voice.His eyes flicked over to Roman who was also eating cereal from the a bowl, albeit more mournfully. “Roman.” 

Roman looked up at Logan and smiled a bit. “Hey Logan, thanks for staying the night.” 

“It was my pleasure,” Logan responded with a small nod. “I just hope that my presence helped to ease some of your, ah, concerns regarding the events that transposed earlier yesterday.”

Roman laughed a little. “You’re going to have to buy me a dictionary.” 

Logan grinned back at him, and then past him at Remus. He looked delighted to see Roman so happy. “I will certainly consider that when the next day for frivolous gift giving comes along.” 

Janus, meanwhile, was panicking. He paced back and forth on the small carpet in front of his mirror, smoothing down his yellow shirt for probably the sixth time in five minutes. The plaid patterned garment had been his original choice for his outing, but now that he looked himself over in the mirror again, he was wondering if another option would be better. 

Smoothing his somewhat floppy hair down nervously, he did his best to calm himself down. _Why do you care so much?_ His brain wondered. _It’s only Patton and Virgil. You’ve already done that whole ‘first impression’ thing, this is not something to panic over._

_Yeah,_ the other half of his mind argued, _but this is the first time they’ll get to really see you. What if you say something wrong? Do something wrong? Who knows, there are so many ways that you can mess this up I can’t even name them all in the time you have left before-_

His phone chimed cheerily. 

_Patton: We’re outside! :)_

Letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding in, Janus grabbed his phone and walked out his door. He had made it as far as the front door when he heard the yell.   
  
“And just where exactly are you going?” She sounded drowsy, but then again, late night shifts will do that to you.   
  
“Out!” Janus hollered back. Short and simple, like his temper right now. 

“Where?” She barked back. 

“If you can stay out all night with no explanation for me I think I’m allowed to go out with friends for a couple of hours!” 

And then he was out of the house, putting all that behind him and putting a big smile on his face. 

Patton’s car was bright yellow, a little volkswagon bug that looked like it had seen better days. The entire back of it was covered with various brightly colored bumper stickers, and with both Patton and Virgil squeezed into the little car already, Janus began to feel a bit dubious that he would even fit. 

“Hi there Janus!” Patton said excitedly from his place behind the wheel, waving excitedly. “Just one second, Virgil needs to get out to let you into the backseat.” 

“Oh, okay,” Janus said, confused, waving back at Patton. “Hi there guys.” 

Virgil, who was climbing out of the car with the difficulty of a man blessed with stupidly long legs, grimaced at Janus. Having just unfolded himself like an accordion, he stretched. He was dressed all in black today, and looked nothing like the kind of person you expected to climb out of a car like Patton’s. “Nice of you to join us,” he said, and Janus spent a moment trying to figure out whether or not he was being sarcastic before deciding that the taller boy was indeed sincere. 

“Nice of you to invite me along,” he said in response, giving Virgil his most winning smile. “I’m very appreciative.” 

“Here you go,” Virgil said, sliding his seat all the way up and allowing Janus to climb through the space provided and into the backseat. “You should probably sit behind Patton, you’ll have more leg room that way.” 

Virgil had always been a bit of a mystery to Janus, as he was a bit less of an open book than any of the other characters he had befriended. Maybe this would be his chance to see what exactly had drawn the more emo boy to this group. “Thanks,” Janus said in response. 

The movie was long and only semi engaging. Janus wished it had been just a bit more up his alley, maybe that would have kept his mind off _other things,_ but at least Virgil and Patton weren’t the kind of people that wanted to talk to him constantly throughout the movie… they wanted to talk to each other. Their voices were so quiet that the background buzzing didn’t even bother Janus that much. All in all, it was a very mediocre experience, but that wasn’t to say that it was completely unenjoyable. He would have rated it a solid six out of ten. 

They went out for food after the movie. Janus and Virgil ordered hamburgers and Patton had the chicken nuggets. The food was decent but the service was especially good. 

“-and then he just decked the kid, right in front of the whole class!” Virgil finished, eyes wide. He was especially animated when he had a captive audience, Janus had found, and after he realized that Janus himself wasn’t going to judge, he’d opened up quite quickly. 

He found himself giggling at Virgil’s story, despite Patton’s disapproving frown. “That’s terrible!” the blonde boy said. “I sure hope everyone ended up alright.” 

“That’s kinda the whole point of the story, Pat,” Virgil said, chuckling as well. “He had it coming, he’s lucky nothing worse happened.” 

“He does sound like a bit of a pillock,” Janus agreed, sipping his soda casually. When he looked up, both Patton and Virgil were staring at him. “What?” he asked, confused. 

“Sorry, it’s just a very… Roman phrase.” Virgil said. 

Janus could feel his chest twist slightly. Despite his best efforts, it must have shown on his face. 

“Oh jeez,” Patton said with a sigh. “It’s alright, Kiddo. Don’t blame yourself for anything, it’s not your fault.” 

“I called him last night,” Janus told them, his eyes flicking upwards and meeting Virgil’s. The other boy was looking at him with a mix of sympathy and confusion. 

“And?” Patton prompted him gently. 

“He didn’t even pick up,” Janus whispered, his throat closing up even further. 

“Oh, honey…” Patton scooted around and slid into his side of the booth, hugging Janus tightly. “I’m sure he was just preoccupied, I’m sure it has nothing to do with you.” Janus heard the waver in his voice, he heard Patton’s tone. He knew he didn’t mean it. Still, it was a nice sentiment. He wrapped his own arms around Patton’s, squinching his eyes shut. _You didn’t cry then, and you’re sure as hell not going to cry now._

“Besides,” Virgil added on, looking only mildly uncomfortable, “Everything seems so much worse in the moment, and at night. Maybe Princey just went to bed early. He’s only told us about a thousand times how much he needs his beauty sleep.” 

“A very good and true point!” Patton said, and though Janus wasn’t going to look up, he was almost positive that Patton was mouthing a ‘thank you’ over the top of his head. Fair enough. 

Patton held him for as long as he needed to. Janus had no idea how he knew when the right moment to let go was, but as soon as he started getting a little uncomfortable and embarrassed, Patton’s spider senses kicked in and he released him. _And you didn’t cry._

“Thank you,” he said, barely making eye contact. 

“Of course, Kiddo!” Patton exclaimed. “I’m so sorry, you coming along with us to the movie and dinner was supposed to help take your mind off of things, not make anything worse!” 

“Did you enjoy the rest of today at least?” Virgil asked him cautiously. 

Janus thought about it, all of it. The cheap movie popcorn that Patton had all but insisted they put too much butter on, the three of them snagging seats in the very back of the theatre so Virgil could feel the most comfortable, the slightly outdated CGI, the lumpy theatre seats, and most importantly, the two of them upending their entire routine so that he could be a part of it. “Yeah,” he said with a genuine, soft smile. “Yeah, I did.”

Patton grinned, and the conversation carried on naturally, Virgil’s self deprecating jokes and Patton’s terrible puns equally horrible, yet equally endearing. Most surprisingly for Janus, he found himself having fun. It’s not like he expected to come and have an awful time, but he had assumed deep down that Patton and Virgil wouldn’t have really wanted him to come, or that he was going to do something wrong and make them wish that he hadn’t.

Shoving all of his thoughts to the back of his head, Janus grinned at his friends and checked back into the conversation. 

Logan was currently doing his best to check himself back into his own conversation. Well, it was less of a conversation and more of a lecture. 

“-and his _eyes,_ Logan, his eyes! They’re just so full and bright and full of life. In the sun they turn the color of amber and honey and they just _shine!”_ Roman was on the couch again, only slightly teary eyed. “And I didn’t mean to ruin whatever we had by trying to kiss him, I’d take it back in a heartbeat if I could, you know that, right?” He sniffed and popped another pringle in his mouth. 

“Indeed,” Logan said, resting his head on Remus’ shoulder. The green haired boy sat next to him in an equal state of exhaustion. “In fact, you have mentioned it quite a few times already.” Logan didn’t understand. None of Roman’s other crushes had ever had a fallout period this bad before, usually he got all of his emotions out in one night and that was that. Perhaps it was because Janus was now an integral part of their group? He had heard he was going out with Patton and Virgil today. 

Still, he’d never seen Roman sad for so long over a romantic mishap. He loved his friend with all his heart, but there was only so many times he could listen to Roman’s description of Janus’ eyes before he went insane.

Logan sighed quietly, leaning further against Remus as Roman started his whole speech all over again. Silently, Remus reached out and slipped his hand into Logan’s in what he assumed was a show of solidarity. 

Remus’ hand was soft and warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys all liked this chapter! I don't think it was my best, but every now and then I've got to throw a filler chapter in there. The next chapter will cover the dreaded return to school and guys, shit's gonna go down. I may do multiple major events, who knows... :)
> 
> You guys have been so nice and sweet and I'm so glad to hear all your super kind and lovely sweet words and just knowing that you guys all like the chapters so much just fills me with so much happiness and really motivates me to write these! (Honestly, I don't even know how I'm getting these out so quickly, I don't think I've ever written anything so fast in my entire life lol) But seriously, y'all are awesome, I love your support so freaking much, keep being your awesome selves. :D
> 
> (yay, we've hit 30kt!!!!)


	15. Make Up, Make Out (fingers crossed)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I don't think I've been more excited to share a chapter with you than I am now. I really really hope you all like reading it as much as I liked writing it. (don't even ask me about the title thought, I really wouldn't know how to respond lol.)
> 
> (Also, someone mentioned in a comment "logan: world cold and hard remus soft and warm" and I'd just like to say- you've done it!!! You've broken my fanon logan down to his bare essentials!!)

Janus wasn’t at lunch. Roman had spent all morning fretting, doing his makeup for once and letting Remus finally pull him away from the mirror when his eyeliner was perfect and his foundation was pristine. He had fretted the entire drive to school, jerking the steering wheel around just a bit too hard. He’d even fretted through first and second block, unable to concentrate on his teacher’s droning voices and boring lessons. But when the time came, and he stepped up to their lunch table, Janus wasn’t there. 

“Where is he?” Roman blurted out. 

“I don’t know,” replied Remus, Virgil, Logan, and Patton with various degrees of believability.

With a small, somewhat disappointed huff, Roman sat down next to Logan and his brother, who appeared to be scrolling through bad memes on Remus’ phone together. “See this one?” Remus said excitedly, “It’s like they’re actually using a nail clipper on his teeth.” 

“That’s disgusting,” Logan replied, not tearing his eyes away from the phone. 

Janus was missing from third block as well. 

  
“What were you expecting?” Logan asked him, sticking a piece of gum in his mouth. “If Janus was missing during our lunch period then logically he would be absent during the block afterwards as well.” 

“I don’t know,” Roman responded, deflating a little bit. 

Logan stopped what he was doing to look over at his friend, a small frown crossing his features. “It will all turn out okay,” he reassured, placing his hand on Roman’s shoulder in comfort. 

“Thanks,” Roman said, not being able to drag all of the sincerity into his voice that he would have hoped to. 

Fourth block seemed endless. Roman sat into his seat, brain swimming with nearly useless facts about people and places he’d never seen before and never would see. Virgil sat next to him today, the unusually calming presence of the taller boy helping to ground him somewhat. Every now and then Virgil would slide his notebook over to Roman and show him a little doodle of one thing or the other, scattered amongst his notes. First it was a little spider, scribbled in his margins. Then, a doodle of Kermit the Frog wearing suspenders. Why exactly Virgil had decided that was the thing to draw evaded Roman. His third picture was simply a couple of flowers, scribbled overtop of what looked like the title for this section of their notes. Roman didn’t bother taking any notes, he knew that Virgil would have him covered if he really wanted them and he just couldn’t bring himself to focus. 

The ringing of the bell was a sweet release. Practically vaulting away from the table, Roman slung his bag over his shoulder and gave Virgil a fairly non-convincing grin. “Adventure awaits,” he proclaimed. 

“I mean sure, if you’re into that,” his friend replied. 

They got to theatre earlier than any of the others. 

Roman listened halfheartedly to the roll call. He knew Remus’ name would be called right before his, so he never paid very close attention, instead benchmarking off of when he heard his brother’s easily identifiable voice. Because of that, he almost missed it. 

“Janus Devon?” 

“Present.” 

Roman’s head snapped up so hard he almost gave himself whiplash. Janus was standing in the back of the room, still holding his book bag. If he had to guess, Roman would have said he had just stepped through the big double doors to the auditorium moments ago.    
  
Very cautiously, Janus made eye contact with him. He looked tired, but hopeful. 

Roman gave him a small smile, his eyes conveying all of the questions he desperately wanted answered. Janus made his way down the aisle as roll call went on, setting his stuff down to Roman’s right and then easing himself onto the chair slowly. He sat on the very edge of it, his eyes staring straight ahead at the stage and his hands locked in his lap. 

Roman desperately waited for Mr Sanders to stop talking. He shuffled awkwardly in his seat and ran his fingers through his hair nervously but stopped himself from repeating the motion. If he kept doing that, his hair would poof up and he simply could not have that.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, they were set free, and the actors who weren’t in the scene they were currently rehearsing were advised to run their lines on their own in the hallway, or get some homework done. Since Gaston’s character was not needed for the whole ‘Be Our Guest” scene, Roman was one of those actors who were allowed to more or less roam free within the auditorium during this time, provided he kept quiet. 

Begrudgingly, he pulled out his history book. Maybe he and Janus could talk after the rehearsal. Virgil had texted him a picture of the notes, he might as well copy those down while he was waiting for a scene where he was needed. Beside him, Janus did the same, pulling out what appeared to be an English book. Was it just him, or did the other boy look particularly upset? 

A row or two back from them, someone was asking around for a pencil as quietly as they could. Roman silently passed his spare back to them. He knew he would never see it again. Oh well. It had lived a good life. 

_ Just don’t focus on the fact that he’s right there, next to you. Don’t focus on the way his hair covers his right eye and the way he cracks his knuckles after he’s written for a long time and the concerned way he bites his lip and the slight tapping of his legs and the anticipation in his eyes and-  _ Roman was so focused on not focusing that he didn’t have a clue what was going on when Janus shot up out of his seat. “Roman and I can go find him, Mr Sanders!’ Blushing a little bit at all of the attention he’d drawn to himself, Janus looked down at the floor. 

“Thanks a ton, Janus,” Mr Sanders said with a smile. “In the meantime guys, lets run that again, okay?”

“Wait what?” Roman hissed out as Janus grabbed his hand and practically dragged him from his seat. “Where are we going?” 

Janus pushed the double doors open and closed them behind them. There was a moment of silence, during which Janus looked around them at the empty hallway nervously and Roman looked generally confused. Finally, he turned back to face Roman. “I like you,” he blurted out. 

“O-oh,” Roman said stupidly, freezing up. 

Janus gave him a concerned look. “It appears I’ve rendered you speechless…” His tone was cautious. “The good kind of speechless or the bad kind of speechless?” 

“Good kind!” Roman blurted out.  _ Oh my god I’m so gay.  _ His tongue felt too big for his mouth. “Definitely the good kind,” he repeated, softer. 

Janus visibly relaxed, his shoulders sagging a bit and a small smile gracing his face. “Well that’s a relief,” he said. “That makes this next part a whole lot easier.” 

“What next part?” Roman asked, still feeling a little bit like he’d been struck with a large, blunt object. 

“The part where I apologize for sending mixed messages,” Janus breathed out with sudden confidence, stepping a bit closer to him as his eyes flicked down to Roman’s lips.  _ Is he trying to fluster me?  _ Roman thought in alarm.  _ Cause it’s working.  _

Roman let out a shaky breath and wondered when he had found himself pressed up against the wall. Janus’ eyes were so big, and he smelled like strawberries. “What do you even have to apologize for?” he said quietly, ducking his head down and breaking eye contact. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized that Janus had already said what he was going to apologize for, but he was feeling a little bit caught up in the moment. 

Janus just chuckled. “I got a call, it kind of killed the vibe.” he reached out and brushed some of Roman’s russet curls out of his face. “I didn’t quite know how to react after that. I’m sorry for freaking out, it won’t happen again.” 

They were so close now, only inches remained between them. “It wasn’t just on you,” Roman replied, doing his best to keep from just throwing caution to the wind and closing the gap between them himself. That was  _ not _ what they needed right now. “I thought I had messed everything up.”

Janus chuckled. “Never.” He grinned. “I was worried that  _ I _ had messed everything up.”

“Never,” Roman echoed him, staring deep into his eyes again. They were so close together now, and he could feel Janus’ soft breathing. Tentatively, Roman began to lean in, eyes closing. 

Janus’ lips were soft, and the hand that tangled in his hair was almost as gentle, if not more so. Roman could feel Janus’ other hand come to rest on the wall next to his shoulder, and he felt his own arms go to the taller boy’s waist. His stomach was full of butterflies. 

“Yo, Edward and Bella over there, what gives?” 

The voice startled them both apart, Janus jumping back into the hallway and away from the doors. Roman, with nowhere to go, simply flinched against the wall, his eyes narrowing slightly at the unwelcome intrusion even as his face flushed a brilliant red. Beside him, he knew that Janus was turning a similar shade. “Remy,” he said curtly. “What do you want?” 

Remy took another long sip from the Starbucks cup he seemed to always be holding. “Meh,” he said, with a shrug. “Just wondering what you gals are doing out here all alone while you both very well know that making out doesn’t count as a school sanctioned extracurricular activity.” 

“We’re looking for a fellow club member,” Janus said, teeth grinding together. 

  
Remy let out a short laugh at that. “Well, on the off chance that you do happen to find that club member down Prince’s throat, you’ll have to let me know.”

Janus just flushed an even darker shade of red as Remy turned and sashayed away in that way that freshmen did before they realized exactly how high school worked. He turned the corner with another chuckle, and then he was out of their sight.

“I hate him,” Roman said softly, looking back over at Janus. 

“Agreed,” Janus nodded, his eyes flicking back up to meet Roman’s. “Are we… good?” 

“Are we good?” Roman repeated, laughing in a borderline hysterical fashion. _ I’d commit murder for you if you asked me nicely.  _ “Oh we’re fantastic,” he added on as soon as the look on Janus’ face flickered from confusion to doubt. Roman ran his hands through his hair, realizing that he was still bright red.  _ Oh I’m so unbelievably gay.  _ “So what was it that we needed to be doing again?” he asked Janus. “Who are we supposed to be finding?” 

“Oh right, they needed us to find Logan,” he explained. Janus apparently had a bit more control over his emotions than Roman did, as he was blushing significantly less by this point, and a borderline smirk was starting to cross his features. “Apparently, something’s weird up in the tech booth and the freshman he left behind has no clue what he’s doing.” 

Roman nodded, partially to spare himself the embarrassment of responding and tripping over his own words, and partially to give himself a moment to think about where Logan could be. “Maybe the bathrooms?” he voiced. 

“That’s as good a guess as any,” Janus agreed, and they were off. 

They talked while they walked, their voices echoing only slightly in the empty hallways. There were several bathrooms around the auditorium, and they checked about three of them before they found Logan. 

“-yeah, it was pretty nerve wracking,” Janus was saying as they pushed open the door to the fourth bathroom on the main floor. 

Roman just chuckled in response, before turning his attention back to their search. “Logan buddy, you in here?” he asked. His next words died in his throat. 

Logan was indeed in the restroom. 

Logan and Remus were both in the bathroom, in fact. Logan sat propped up on one of the sinks, Remus in front of him. Logan’s arms were around his brother’s neck, and Remus’ hands appeared to be around Logan’s waist. That wouldn’t have been a big issue if they weren’t violently making out. 

Now, violent wasn’t a word that Roman would usually use to describe anything about kissing. He preferred terms like ‘passionate’ or ‘intense’ or maybe even ‘zealous’ if he wanted to sound especially eloquent. He would never even have considered violent as an adjective, why would he? It just seemed wrong.

But this was Remus he was talking about. 

Janus and Roman stood there for a moment, frozen with a whole different kind of shock and horror than before. Finally, Janus cleared his throat. 

Remus turned around to face them, and a big grin crossed his face as he realized who was standing there. “Hey, what’s up, bro?” he asked them cheerfully. “I see you and Janus have made up!” Behind him, Logan buried his face in his hands, flushing an even darker shade of red than before. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooooooooooooo? :) 
> 
> (y'all will get Logan and Remus' explanation next chapter, I couldn't help but leave it here for you guys)


	16. ...And At This Point, I'm Too Afraid To Ask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait and the slightly filler-y chapter guys, we're going to be progressing with the plot shortly, I promise, and I don't know why this was such a slog to get through. 
> 
> A fun fact for you since you had to wait so long: I'd been waiting to write the scene where Remus and Logan kissed since the very beginning of this story, and I had always planned for them to be secretly dating for a portion of time as well. The other thing I knew I wanted for sure was to write in them using the stupid 21 letters pick up line multiple different ways (which CKTKat totally caught btw, yay!!). I've known where I wanted to go with them from the beginning. Roman and Janus however? A frickin mystery to me right up until I wrote them kissing and was like 'oh, word, guess that's happening then'.

“T-they need you in the soundbox, Logan,” Janus said quietly. 

Logan nodded, mortified. He made a move as though to slide past all of them and out the door. 

“Oh no no no, you don’t get to just run away,” Roman exclaimed. “How long has this been going on?” 

  
“Hmm, lemme think,” Remus said, stroking an imaginary beard. “It all started when… Logan confessed his love for me in a Dollar Spot!” He shrieked, pulling Logan off of the sink and squeezing him to his side. “It was maybe a month ago, maybe more.” He shrugged, still grinning. Logan looked like he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him whole. 

“That’s… romantic?” Janus tried, making a face that implied he felt the opposite. 

“Definitely not,” Roman said to him, shaking his head. “Try again.” 

“Yes, as far as ‘romantic’ spots go, even I would not consider our local Dollar Spot to be among them,” Logan said, giving him a strange look. 

“Hey man, I’m just trying to be supportive here,” Janus said, holding his hands up in surrender. “Cause, when you think about it, we  _ totally  _ expected to find you in here wrapped around Roman’s brother. This is a  _ completely normal _ thing for us to walk in on.”

Logan flushed somehow even deeper red, words seemingly failing him, for once. 

“I mean… it kind of is,” Remus pointed out, now chewing on his nails. They were painted a bright purple. Logan smacked his hand away from his mouth. “A normal scenario,” he clarified. 

“Wait, this has been going on since…” Roman started to do the mental math.

“Since we had that big fight,” Remus helpfully supplied, nodding and grinning even wider. “Like I said, maybe a month.”

“Wha- I- I tried to get you two together!” Roman spluttered out.  _ “We _ tried to get you two together!” 

“And I told you that the situation was under control,” Logan chimed in. “You were the one who figuratively jumped to conclusions, Roman.” 

“You guys were already dating?” Roman said, horrified. 

“For lack of a better word, yes.” Logan nodded. “I did… confess in the dollar spot, but it wasn’t until later that night that we both agreed that a more romantic relationship would be both optimal and enjoyable for the two of us.” 

“And you didn’t tell me? I’m your best friend!” Roman sounded a little hurt. “Ouch.” 

Logan rolled his eyes, instead directing his gaze at Janus, who had stayed mostly silent. 

“You’ve got no complaints from me,” Janus said with a shrug. “I’m lucky enough that you even let me be a part of the group. I’m not offended that you wanted to keep anything a bit more...” he paused, “...under wraps.” 

Remus grinned, possibly squeezing Logan even tighter than before. 

“I can’t believe it,” Roman muttered to himself, the sound echoing slightly in the bathroom. They were in a school bathroom. Ew.

“It’s just that…” Logan trailed off for a moment before collecting his thoughts. “I’ve never done anything like this before. I’ve never even really felt anything like this before. So when Remus and I discussed our arrangement-” 

“We’re gonna f-!” Remus cut in, only to be shushed loudly and quickly by Roman and Janus. 

“Nope not even thinking about that!” Roman said, wrinkling his nose. “No thanks!” 

“Our  _ arrangement,” _ Logan continued, as though he had never been interrupted to begin with, “we had originally agreed that it would be best for us to figure out whatever  _ this _ was on our own to begin, as opposed to alerting everyone else immediately. I personally wanted some extra time simply to figure out if I even wanted an arrangement of sorts in the first place.” Logan paused at that. “And you both should realize that I don’t need to explain my reasoning to you at all, however I am choosing to because I believe it would be conducive to the betterment of our friendship.” 

“Thanks.” Janus nodded. 

  
Roman was still positively reeling. “I tried to set you up!” he exclaimed once more for emphasis, putting one beautifully manicured hand to his forehead. “And you did nothing to dissuade me!” 

“Well, that isn’t entirely true,” Janus pointed out.

“In fact, it’s completely untrue,” Logan added on. “Roman, I did my best to dissuade you at every turn.” 

Roman just sighed even more dramatically. Janus smirked, and Logan gave another of his tight lipped smiles that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

“Now then, you said they needed Logan to box?” Remus said. 

That day, while momentous, did surprisingly little to outwardly change the group’s dynamics. Roman was shocked. While they were acting minimally more romantic, from an outsider’s perspective Logan and Remus’ relationship had barely changed. As for himself and Janus, they were still in that semi-awkward figuring out whether or not they wanted to become an item stage. 

“Hey,” Janus said with a slight blush, setting his tray down beside Roman the next day. 

“Long time no see,” Roman responded jokingly, equally unsure of proper post-kiss protocall. He felt his eyes unintentionally focusing once again on the lips of the boy beside him, and his own flush deepened significantly. 

“Not really though,” Janus responded, smiling, and Roman just started laughing. Admittedly, it wasn’t that funny a joke, but he was out of other, reasonable sounding options. 

“You doing okay there, kiddo?” Patton asked him, as Roman continued to laugh, more to himself at this point than anything else. 

Roman snapped his jaw shut like a steel trap. “Yup,” he squeaked out. “Just a little tired.” That much was true at least. Last night he had gotten dangerously close to pulling an all nighter, something he’d only done twice before in his seventeen years of living. He didn’t function well on no sleep, and the effects of the espresso he’d grabbed in the morning didn’t last nearly as long as he’d been hoping. The events of the day before had just been playing in his head in an endless loop of emotion. 

“Well, maybe if you established a proper sleeping schedule like we’d discussed, you wouldn’t be feeling the effects of fatigue quite as strongly right now,” Logan wisely advised, taking another bite out of whatever kind of sandwich he was eating. 

“Agreed,” Remus said with a shit eating grin, also taking a bite out of whatever kind of sandwich Logan was eating. 

“Remus, do  _ you _ ever actually sleep either?” Virgil asked him, doubt written all over his face. 

“Touche, Virgin, touche,” Remus responded, nodding. “I am nothing but a dirty hypocrite.” 

Roman might have imagined it, but he could have sworn he heard Logan snort. 

“Be nice,” Patton said quietly. 

It wasn’t all bad and awkward. At least he and Janus had been texting almost constantly. It had occurred to Roman quite early on that, while easily flustered in person, he was able to be a lot more flirtatious over text, and Janus would never know how red his face was turning. 

  
For instance, Janus greeted him the same way at the start of each day.

_ Janus: Morning, beautiful :) _

_ Roman: Morning, doll, how did you sleep?  _

_ Janus: Not bad at all, hbu? _

_ Roman: Fantastic, last night I dreamt of the next time I would see you.  _

He predicted that if Janus ever told him good morning and called him beautiful in the same sentence he might keel over dead. That was just a prediction though, there was also a good chance that he would just grab him and kiss him until neither of them could breathe. 

Despite the newfound level of flirting in their relationship, Roman was a little iffy on whether he and Janus were actually dating or not. Sure, they texted almost twenty four seven, and sure they were constantly huddled together “for warmth” no matter the temperature, but Virgil and Patton were the same way and they weren’t dating. 

The easy solution would have been to just ask him, but since when did Roman Prince ever do anything the easy way?

“Dude, this is like the third time you’ve explained this to me,” Remus said from his spot on the bed, petting Gatsby with one hand and scrolling through Tumblr with the other. “Just ask him. Jannie will understand how you’ve managed to confuse so badly what sort of relationship you two currently have. He’s understanding like that or whatever.” 

“I agree,” Logan said from his spot next to Remus, their shoulders pressed together. Logan was wearing some kind of weird green jacket today, one with far too many band pins for his usual aesthetic. “If you truly wish to know the answer to your question, It would behove you to simply inquire.” 

“You don’t  _ understand,” _ Roman said, moaning into the pillow on his own bed in worry. “What if he thinks I’m being too presumptuous, just because we kissed once and declared our feelings for one another and he told me I could never mess up anything for him?” 

Logan and Remus both stared at him. 

“You’re absolutely right, Roman, I don’t understand,” Logan finally agreed. 

Roman just groaned again. “You two are useless when it comes to this stuff, I’m going to grab some more snacks.” He rolled off the bed and stalked out of the room. “I’ll be right back.” 

  
Remus pouted. “I don’t think we’re totally useless when it comes to this stuff, Lolo.” 

Logan rolled his eyes at his boyfriend, but leaned in and gave him a small kiss on the tip of his nose. “Roman is just magnifying, Remus. It’s not as big of a deal as he believes, but because of the problem he’s turned this situation into inside of his own head, he’s unnecessarily troubled by it.” 

“You’re so smart, Logan,” Remus said with a happy kind of sigh, moving his head into the crook of his boyfriend’s neck with some difficulty. Logan had quite a few inches on him, but with both of them lying on their stomachs and propped up with their arms, they were almost equal. Most of Logan’s height was in his legs. 

“Well,” Logan said with a barely concealed smile and blush, “I do my best.” 

Remus beamed up at him. And then he leaned further over and licked a stripe up Logan’s cheek. 

“Remus, we’ve talked about this!” Logan practically shrieked, throwing himself away from him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Would any of you be interested in knowing the various canonical heights for these guys lol? I have them all sketched out and with backgrounds and how they look and everything but I realize I don't use that much in the story and then people are like !!!Woah!!! :)
> 
> Y'all are amazing and I love you, hope you're all staying safe <3


	17. Chill Pill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you wondering the canonical heights, here they are, tallest to shortest! 
> 
> Logan stands as our tallest boy at 6 feet tall! Remus climbs him like a tree.  
> Next in line would be Virgil, clocking in at 5 foot 10 inches. He, like Logan, is about 83% leg.  
> Remus and Janus are tied for third at around 5 foot 7, and they're both pretty pleased about it. Average.  
> Patton is fourth with a height of 5 foot 6, and he struggles to keep pace with Virgil.  
> Roman is 5 foot 4 and a half (roughly my height!), though he'll just say he's 5'5", and I know people usually make him the taller one and Janus little, but something about beanpole Janus and low key built shorter Roman seemed fun to write, so that's what I went with.  
> (I'm happy to tell you guys anything you want to know about these characters lmao I've put way too much work into them at this point)

It had been two weeks, and Roman was no less oblivious and unnecessarily worried than before. 

“Well that’s no good!” Roman fretted on Friday, hastily moving the various potted plants in their downstairs from side table to windowsill and back to the side table like the world’s most twisted game of musical chairs. “No, no…”

“I know this is coming from me, but you seriously need to relax,” Remus said from the couch, though he looked amused. “Do whatever you need to do, dude. Jack off if it’ll help.” Stretching out his arms, he cracked his knuckles absentmindedly. 

Logan grumbled from where he was, lying across their couch underneath Remus while he shifted. “He’s been to your house before, Roman, why is this time any different?” 

“Because Virgil and Patton can’t come tonight,” Roman said, biting his lip nervously. At this rate, they would be red and raw by the time Janus even pulled up at their front door. His hair was already frizzed out, though Logan and Remus knew better than to tell him that. 

“Yes, Patton informed us all at lunch that he wouldn’t be able to make it due to the kitten that he will be welcoming into his home later this evening, and Virgil told us that he had to watch his younger siblings this night, is any of this new information for you?” Logan asked him, wincing again as Remus’ elbow dug into his side. 

“But that means that it’s just us and you guys,” Roman practically whispered, eyes wide. “That could make it a…” 

“Double date, dork.” Remus finished his sentence, rolling his eyes. “Ooh, _three_ D’s!” 

“Alliteration is admirable,” Logan agreed absentmindedly. “But then again, I fail to see how this would invoke feelings like this from you, are you dreading tonight? Does the thought of spending time with Janus without some extra people around not excite you? If that is the case, I do not recommend that you attempt to pursue a romantic relationship with him, that would be ill advised.” 

“It’s not that!” Roman said with a huff, annoyed at his friend’s overly sensible responses. Where was that sense of drama that every teenager found themselves drowning in every once and a while? “It’s just… I still don’t know if we’re dating or not,” he said with a sigh. 

“Surely you must be joking,” Logan said. 

  
Roman just shook his head mournfully. 

“It’s been two weeks.” 

“I _know!_ ” Roman said. “It just… never came up.” 

“Okay that right there is some bullshit,” Remus said, blowing a bubble and popping it. He pushed his gum to the side of his mouth. “Give us some more credit than that, bro, we can tell when you’re just yanking our coc-”

“Alright that’s enough out of you,” Roman interrupted him. As much as he hated to admit it, Remus had a point. 

_They sat in a darkened movie theatre, Remus to their right and absolutely inhaling the rest of their expensive movie popcorn. Virgil sat one seat down from Remus, occasionally snagging a kernel for himself. And Janus sat right next to Roman, just close enough for Roman’s brain to short circuit. He could smell Janus’ cologne, and every now and then he watched one of the dyed blonde strips of Janus’ hair fall across his face, only for the boy to brush it back absentmindedly, eyes focused on the picture in front of them._

_Roman jumped about a foot in the air when Janus leaned on his shoulder._

_“Sorry,” He whispered, looking up into Roman’s eyes. “I got cold.”_

_Roman’s tongue felt just a bit too big for his mouth. He nodded. “No it’s okay,” he responded, whispering equally softly. “If- um, if you’re cold, you can have my jacket too. If you want.”_

_Janus beamed at him. “Well that’s awfully kind of you, I was wondering when I would get a chance to snag one of those off of you.” He accepted the hoodie eagerly, and even though he was taller than Roman, the jacket absolutely swallowed his slender form. “I suppose you’re a better candidate than I when it comes to lending hoodies.”_

_Roman did his best not to lean over and kiss him as Janus set his head back on Roman’s shoulder, biting his tongue on the question ‘What do you mean?’._

_Janus kept the jacket, though Roman had to admit it looked a lot better on him than it did on himself. Never mind the fact that it had Roman’s last name across the back of it._

“I agree with Remus,” Logan said, just about the same as he had been saying for the past few years, every time Roman spiraled about something ‘trivial’ and ‘emotional’ and ‘not really that big of a deal, Roman.’

“I know you do,” said Roman, pouting a little bit.

_They sat in the park with Virgil and Patton, all four of them spread out on a big checkered blanket. A basket sat in between them, filled with a large variety of foods, each with a varying degree of edibility._

_Roman had made the sandwiches himself, cutting off the crusts for Virgil because he was strange like that and making sure to cut Patton’s in half diagonally, the way he had eaten them for all the years of his life that Roman had known him, and probably before that as well._

_Virgil had supplied several bags of chips and other salty crunchy foods. Where they had come from, Roman did not know, seeing as Virgil’s house never had any good snacks, and his mother had tried to offer them apples the last time they had visited. Maybe he attacked someone and robbed their unconscious body._

_Janus had brought them some kind of suspicious looking juice, and upon closer inspection Roman noted that the expiration dates had been scratched out. Janus reassured them that the juice wasn’t more than a year or two old at most, but Virgil and Patton both had waited until he himself took a sip from one of them before drinking their own, most likely to reassure themselves that he wasn’t trying to poison them. Roman couldn’t blame them, but Janus was right. The juice was really good._

_Patton had simply supplied a plate of slightly smushed brownies. Why exactly they were smushed, he would not tell them, though the way he refused to make eye contact with all of them when Janus politely inquired did not raise Roman’s hopes that these brownies had simply cooked that way. Perhaps one of Patton’s various hairless cats had sat on them. Ultimately, Roman decided that the brownies were more concerning than the juice boxes._

_“Hey, can you pass me that napkin?”_

_Roman startled a bit at the noise, turning to see Janus looking expectantly at him, one hand covering his mouth self consciously._

_“Yeah,” Roman said, leaning over and snagging one of the various napkins from the basket and passing it back to him, smiling._

_“Thanks, babe,” Janus said, wiping whatever offending food was on his face off._

_Roman froze. “Babe?” he asked, his voice unusually high._

_“Yeah, babe,” Janus responded, nodding and no longer making eye contact, shutting down that strain of conversation. He was still wearing Roman’s jacket, even though the day was a bit warmer._

_“Babe?” Roman just whispered again, more to himself than Janus at this point. It would have been the perfect time to just spit out the question resting on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know why, but he just couldn’t._

_Virgil and Patton exchanged a look._

“Still,” Remus’ voice pulled him out of his head and back into the present. “You don’t need to worry so much, bro. Take a chill pill. Mom keeps some Xanax somewhere, I’m sure I could sniff it out if you wanted.”  
  
“It’s not a good idea to go rooting through your mother’s cupboards, Remus,” Logan advised, one of his hands buried in Remus’ murky green curls, massaging his scalp. Roman was pretty sure his brother was purring. 

“Whatever,” Remus said cheerfully. “Come on dude, theatre was cancelled today, lighten up! We still have a whopping…” he checked Logan’s watch, “three minutes before Janus is supposed to get here!” 

“I’m sorry, what?” Roman choked out, springing up and checking their clock. Remus might have been an idiot, but telling time was one of the things he was good at. “Oh shit!” 

“Roman, this room is already close to spotless,” Logan pointed out. “I don’t see what exactly you are worrying about.” 

Roman paused. “I’m not really sure either,” he confessed, sitting gingerly back down on the very edge of the sofa. “I mean… I care about him a lot, and I like spending time with him, and even if I’m not exactly sure _what_ we are right now, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have fun with the guy that I like.” 

“That’s a much more reasonable statement,” Logan said with a smile. “See, I know you sometimes blow things out of proportion, but it’s best to sometimes take a step back and look at the situation from a more analytical, objective perspective-”

The doorbell rang. 

“Roman honey, I think your special friend is here!” their mom called from somewhere in the upstairs of the house. 

“Oh shit, oh my gosh, it’s him!” Roman sprung off of the couch with all the energy of an anxious puppy, taking the stairs in twos in his haste to get to the door quickly enough and combing through his disheveled hair. 

Logan sighed, putting his free hand to his forehead and pinching his brow. 

Remus smirked at him from where he was, his head positioned directly in the center of Logan’s chest. “Love defies all logic,” he said with a small shrug. “Or, as I like to think of it, the teenage need to bone something defies all logic.” 

“Gross, thanks for that,” Logan said. 

“It’s my pleasure,” Remus said, grinning. “Or yours, if you wanted.” 

_Now we don’t have time to unpack all of that._ Logan ignored that statement entirely. “Should we go up and greet your guest?” he offered instead, hearing as Roman opened the front door. 

“Nope!” Remus said, putting his arms around Logan and squeezing. “They can come to us. For now, you’re stuck with me, Lo.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys all liked this chapter! Everyone commenting on Roman's stupidity and useless gay moments: thank you you are so very valid and that's exactly what's going on
> 
> You guys have all been so sweet, and everything you guys have to say about this fic puts the biggest grin on my face. Thank you again for just your own general awesomeness! :)
> 
> (also hoodies are the shit, like I don't think I ever stopped wearing my ex boyfriend's hoodie when we were dating lol)


	18. Two Truths And A Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I see you guys all love reading about oblivious Roman as much as I love writing him! I'm so glad, I was worried his character would come across as annoying after a while, or just plain old dramatic, but you guys have all been so sweet! Honestly, you guys are just so sweet and awesome and kind and I'm running out of nice things to say about you that I haven't said before. Just... thank you so much for being so nice. :)
> 
> (And in response to Genderlessfish, who said that they bet Remus teased Roman about the height thing in the past- you're 100% correct, but that stopped pretty quickly when Remus realized that just because Roman was the shorter twin didn't mean he was the weaker twin. Remus is kinda lanky but Roman's got muscles thanks to football lol)

“Well, I certainly don’t object to being stuck with you,” Logan said, a warm and fuzzy feeling filling his heart. 

Remus gave him a dopey grin. “Me neither, Lo.” Then, his eyes lit up. “I wonder if Roman is gonna get his head out of his ass tonight. Maybe he’ll finally bite the bullet and just ask Janus if they’re together or not.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “He is moronic. And so are you, for that matter.” 

“Undeniably,” Remus shot back, giving Logan a lovestruck look that made his heart skip a beat in his chest. “But where’s the fun in being boring?”

They could hear Roman and Janus upstairs, talking in low voices and moving around their modest sized kitchen. 

“Five bucks says they’ve forgotten we’re even down here,” Remus said with another of his strange grins that made Logan’s heart forget quite how to beat properly. 

“I’ll take you up on that one,” Logan responded, ducking his head to hide his blush, a difficult feat when the person you were trying to hide your blushing from was lying on top of you. “Janus tends to become quite thirsty both after car rides and later in the day, most likely due to improper hydration and the fact that the air conditioning units in cars are notorious for sucking the moisture out of the air. Most likely Roman has only attempted to be chivalrous and offered him a glass of water.”

Remus inspected his nails. The murky green nail polish of the week was already chipping a little bit, despite him only having applied it yesterday. “He’s nice like that,” he said, his tone changing a little bit. “Janus would be an idiot not to want to date him. _Anyone_ would be an idiot not to want to date him.” 

Logan looked over at Remus, brow furrowing for a moment. Remus looked almost upset by that fact for a moment before turning his head and meeting Logan’s eyes again. “Oh well!” he said with a big goofy smile. “It be like that sometimes. He’s a dork but he’s a handsome dork.” 

“Well then,” Logan said, after a moment of silence, “I suppose this is one of the first times in my entire life that you can truthfully classify me as an idiot.”

Remus looked up at him. 

“If I’m an idiot for liking you instead of him, then that’s a title I will gladly accept,” Logan said simply. 

There was another pause, during which Remus looked like he was about to burst into tears. “God, I love you,” he breathed out, glancing up at Logan from under his lashes. Somewhere in the very back of his mind, Logan realized that this was one of the few times he’d ever seen Remus blush. 

“I love you too.” 

The words didn’t feel anything like Logan thought they would. He had expected them to be hard, expected his throat to close up and his knees to feel weak as he said them. He had expected to not feel ready to say them, for the words to be stilted, like he was reading from one of Roman’s scripts. 

What he had felt was nothing like what he had assumed. The words came easily, not laborious to say in the slightest. They just felt right. He hadn’t expected them to feel this _right._

Remus looked like he was about to kiss him until he couldn’t breathe and Logan was about to let him when they heard footsteps on the stairs, and Janus and Roman were making their way back into the basement. Logan shoved down the feeling of disappointment and put on a pleasant smile.   
  
“Welcome, Janus,” he said. 

“Hey Logan,” Janus said with a smile, and Logan noted that Roman was carrying Janus’ overnight bag for him. Their new friend was also holding one of the houses’ less breakable glasses in his hand. 

  
“Damn, you win…” Remus muttered. He leaned over and tucked a five dollar bill in Logan’s collar. “Go buy yourself something nice,” he suggested, before rolling off of him and onto the floor with a dull _thunk._

They ended up playing two truths and a lie, some older Broadway tunes playing from Roman’s tiny bluetooth speaker in the corner. As they sat in a circle, Logan couldn’t help but be reminded of their middle school selves, giggling and daring one another to do the worst things they could think of. As high schoolers he admitted that their group wasn’t much better. At least with this game there was some strategy involved, meaning that it was minorly more enjoyable to him than some of the others. 

“I love the taste of mayonnaise, my first kiss was a girl, and… I’ve gotten detention for fighting,” Roman said. 

The other three considered it. Well, technically, the other two. Remus wasn’t allowed to answer for any of Roman’s, and vice versa. It was only fair. They did live together, after all. 

“The second one is true,” Janus mumbled, and Logan gave him an interested look. _That’s an interesting tidbit of information for Janus to know,_ he thought. 

“Well, I believe that the last statement is true as well,” Logan said, “Unless I am severely mistaken, Roman punched a kid last year for insulting Remus.” He looked to his boyfriend for confirmation, but Remus just grinned widely at him. 

“Final answer, you can’t actually stand the taste of mayonnaise,” Janus said. 

“You are correct,” Roman said with a small shudder. 

“What has mayonnaise ever done to you?” Janus wondered.

“Ask Remus,” Roman said with a small shudder. 

“All I did was make you a delicious vanilla milkshake!” Remus protested. “I don’t know how the mayonnaise got into it!” 

“Oh, great, I’m so glad that I know that totally unnecessary and gross information…” Janus muttered, scooching closer to Roman and leaning against his shoulder. Neither Logan or Remus missed the way that Roman stiffened, his eyes lighting up. 

“Alright losers, my turn,” Remus declared. “I’ve drank an entire can of paint for thirty bucks, I have and will continue to slap Anton’s ass as he walks down the hallway, and tomorrow is the official six month anniversary of the last time I had a vegetable.” 

They all stared at him.   
  
“Those are all… equally concerning,” Logan finally said. The others nodded in agreement. 

“It’s gotta be the paint, right? Please tell me it’s the paint,” Janus said. 

“Is that your final answer?” Remus said with a grin. Something about that grin told Logan that the paint wasn’t the right answer.  
  
“Sure.” 

“The lie was actually the ass slapping one, I have slapped his ass before but I got so much shit for it the first time that I’m not allowed to ever do it again,” Remus said with a pout. 

“I’m frankly amazed that you weren’t assaulted,” Roman commented. 

“Technically, they couldn’t prove it was me,” Remus said with a wide grin. “Crowded hallway, lots of students, you know, just because Anton has a certain… distaste for me, let’s say, doesn’t mean he can justify beating me up in front of everyone! Too many eyewitnesses. He threatened me later though.” 

“You have no sense of self preservation,” Logan said, shaking his head. “It’s concerning, to say the least.” 

“I’m not dead yet,” Remus replied cheerfully. 

“Logan, I do believe that it is your turn,” Janus said. 

“Very well,” he replied, sitting up a little bit straighter. “I’m not much of an actor, but I will do my best to deliver these three statements in a monotone fashion so as to conceal the falsehood as well as I may be able to. I have an older half sister who lives in Canada, I played the violin for six years before I stopped taking lessons, and I am able to beatbox.”

Remus and Roman stared at him. “We’ve known you for years dude, how do we not know any of this?” Roman finally asked him. “I feel like this would be some memorable stuff.” 

Logan shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t spend every waking moment with you, and I certainly don’t share every semi important detail of my life with you, so there is a reasonable chance that I can stump you by naming things that just haven’t come up in any of our numerous conversations before today. Is this not how the game is played?” 

Janus smirked. “No, you’re playing the game right. They’re just salty because they thought this round was going to be easy.” 

Roman spluttered, looking down at Janus in betrayal. “That is _not_ true,” he squeaked out, his voice about an octave higher than usual. 

“Wow Roman, for someone who happens to be such a distinguished actor, your lying could use some work,” Janus responded, sticking his tongue out a little bit as he grinned. 

Logan took a little too much happiness out of watching the bright red flush travel across Roman’s cheeks and ears. 

“Whatever, I know you better than those dorks,” Remus said confidently. “The beatboxing one is the lie, obviously.”

“No way, it’s the one about the sister, for sure!” Roman argued, turning to his brother. “If he found out he had a half sister, don’t you think he would want to tell us?”

Janus looked on in amusement as the twins began to bicker. 

Finally, Logan decided to just end their arguing. “You’re both wrong, you know,” he said quietly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. 

Roman and Remus shut up at once. 

“You would have known him when he was taking violin lessons, wouldn’t you?” Janus pointed out, and as the look of understanding settled over Roman and Remus’ faces, Logan resisted the urge to facepalm. 

“That is correct, we were childhood friends,” Logan agreed. “I never played the violin. As you all know, I am not as musically inclined as some of the rest of you.” 

“Except for beatboxing, apparently!” Roman chimed in, completely derailing whatever Remus was about to say about being disappointed in himself for not knowing his boyfriend better. “Why haven’t you ever told us you can do that before?” 

“Because unlike you and your brother, I positively detest standing up in front of a large group of people and making a fool of myself,” Logan said. 

“Hey, words hurt,” Roman said with a small frown. Remus just laughed. 

Janus clearly felt awkward following up Logan. He thought for a long time before saying anything at all. “I’ve moved around eight times,” he said, before pausing again, “I once ate nothing except for kraft macaroni for a week, and… meeting all of you was the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” 

“Aww, well it can’t be the last one,” Roman said with a smile, before a chilling thought ran through him. “It isn’t the last one, right?” he asked Janus quietly. 

But the boy leaning on his arm just chuckled. “The game’s no fun if I just tell you the answers,” he pointed out. 

“Assuming that Janus would not say anything to emotionally distress us, I do believe that the falsehood would be the statement about him moving eight times,” Logan cut in. “It doesn’t seem very plausible.” 

“Whatever Logan thinks is good,” Remus agreed, his mind clearly still harping on the fact that his boyfriend could beatbox. 

Roman nodded in agreement. 

A big smile spread across Janus’ face. “Well you chose correctly,” he said. “I’ve only moved six times.”

Roman seemed to let out a big sigh of relief next to him, and Janus turned to look him in the eyes. “Though, if we’re being specific, Roman is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” The words were quiet, but everyone still managed to hear them. Roman looked like he was going to melt into a puddle of love and affection and _obliviousness,_ and Janus just looked back at him like he was his whole world. 

Exchanging what would ultimately be the first of many looks of the evening, Remus and Logan rolled their eyes and did their best not to smirk too widely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And Remus steals the very first "I love you" of the story!!! :D 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I would have uploaded it yesterday, but another little idea wormed its way into my head so I wrote that instead and posted it lol. It's called Shedding Season and it's Roceit & Intrulogical, based around Janus' newfound shedding issue. It takes place after POF, minus the angst cause we don't got time for any of that. Kinda dumb but I love it anyway lol. But yeah, the chapter is here now, and I hoped you like it as much as I did, and keep being awesome everyone! <3


	19. Called It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everything Roman has done so far in this work is incredibly convoluted and extra and I'm sorry it's just that I know one (1) way to write Roman and this is it. T-T
> 
> Oh yah a heads up as well for y'all about POV for this story: I don't really do first person POV but there is a certain character for every chapter that I kind of "follow," which is why you only hear one person's thoughts on a subject and the story and conversation revolve around them. This is one of the strange chapters (I've only done this once before) with a break in the middle of it: ----- . At the break, the story switches from following Roman to Patton. It's not to specify a specific time skip or anything, I just wanted to make it clear that the POV switched. Sorry if this is confusing, and I hope this explains it as well as is possible! Enjoy! :)

_ Roman: Two truths and a lie.  _

_ Janus: Hit me.  _

_ Roman: 1) I like you enough to date you. (this one’s true btw!) _

_   
_ _ Roman: 2) We are dating, I’ve just been too stupid to notice it.  _

_ Roman: 3) I’m about to be disappointed by your answer.  _

Roman stared at his phone screen for a moment, a little stunned by his own forwardness.  _ Who let me think this was a good idea?  _ he wondered to himself. Then he remembered.  _ Oh right. It’s three am and no one else is awake except for me and Janus.  _

He shuffled a little bit in his sleeping bag. Over on the couch, he thought he could hear Janus doing the same. A nervous sort of energy seemed to fill his entire body as he waited for Janus’ response. He could see the bright light of Janus’ screen illuminating the slopes of his face, eyes wide and glittering as he began to type back.

_ Janus: lmao  _

Roman’s blood ran cold. 

_ Janus: well… it certainly can’t be the first one or the second one, they’re both true, so #3?  _

It was like being hit in the face with a brick, but taking into account the fact that you wanted to be hit in the face with the brick to begin with. Roman could feel an almost dorky smile begin to spread across his face, and he was already in the process of texting back when Janus’ second message came through. 

_ Janus: This is assuming of course that you aren’t disappointed with my answer. _

_ Janus: Though, from the look of your blush, something tells me you aren’t.  _

_ Roman: :) _

Why did he never know quite what to say around Janus? It was unfair, for someone who claimed smoothness, he always seemed to lose his confidence around the taller boy, dissolving into a melted, gooey mess of affection and generalized love. Unfair. He should sue. 

_ Janus: God, you’re cute when you blush.  _

_ Roman: You can’t even see my face! _ _   
  
_

_ Janus: Phone screen light :P _

Roman sighed and shook his head at himself, trying to clear the cotton out of it. It was getting pretty late and he could already feel his eyelids drooping, but he didn’t want to stop texting. 

The last text that he remembered getting before drifting off to sleep was probably the best one he’d seen all night. 

_ Janus: Sweet dreams, beautiful. <3 _

\-----

The next month was probably one of the best that Patton could remember. He had been missing the night that Roman and Janus had become an official couple, (one of his few regrets in life) though he could tell almost immediately on Monday that they’d figured everything out. No one was surprised that they’d gotten together, Janus’ and Roman’s pining had been about as subtle as a toddler standing on a table and banging pots and pans together. 

Logan and Remus were content as well, not to mention amused that Roman’s age of obliviousness was over, for the time being at least. They were less affectionate than Janus and Roman were, but that followed suit with their personalities. At a glance, most people would be surprised that such an unlikely pair had gotten together despite their differences, but Patton had called that one  _ ages _ ago. 

_ He and Virgil had been sitting on the edge of the stage their freshman year, after having packed their respective instruments away. They had an early morning rehearsal that day, since the Christmas concert was fast approaching. Patton’s mother had been nice enough to drive them in.  _

_ “So, why do you like to get to rehearsal so early?” Virgil had asked him, kicking his legs slightly. “Not that I mind getting up a bit earlier, I’m grateful for the ride,” he reassured him moments later.  _

_ Patton looked over at his new friend, smiling. “It’s going to sound stupid,” he warmed him with a grin. “I like to watch all the students come in.” _

_ Virgil looked interested, but didn’t say anything.  _

_ “We’re all just highschoolers, and because of that it’s so very easy to focus just on ourselves and block everyone else out, but all of these other people are going through their own things, in the middle of writing their own stories. When they walk into a room, they bring just a little bit of that with them, and if you try hard enough, you can get a small glimpse into their lives, sort of see what they’re going through, the good the bad and the icky.”  _

_ Virgil cracked a grin. “So you like people watching.”  _

_ “I guess so!” Patton responded. “It’s calming, you know? No matter how isolated I feel, I can always just look around and see that there are people all around me, and even if I only know them from afar or from a glance, just knowing that they’re there can make things a little bit easier, at least for me.”  _

_ Virgil shook his head, most likely in disbelief. “You have an incredibly positive outlook on life,” he informed Patton. “I wish I could feel the same way you did.”  _

_ That made Patton frown a little bit. “Well, whatever you are feeling, I hope you can feel like you can talk to someone about it. Even if it isn’t me, especially if it isn’t me, I hope you have someone you can trust with yourself.” _

_ “I trust you.” Virgil gave him a small, kind of bashful grin. There was a comfortable pause in the conversation. “Did you used to… well, did you used to watch me?” he asked finally.  _

_ “Oh, of course!” Patton said immediately. “I watched everyone, I hope that doesn’t squick you out or anything.”  _

_ “No, definitely not,” Virgil replied. “What did you think of me at first?”  _

_ “Well,” Patton responded, choosing his next words carefully, “I saw someone who looked like they wanted to be left alone at first, someone who wanted no part of any kind of friendship. I thought you were sarcastic and witty, but I’d only heard you speak a couple of times. You were kind of quiet but you seemed like you had so much more you wanted to say, and I just wondered about you.” Patton gave him a smile. “All good things, kiddo. Besides, we ended up friends in the end!”  _

_ Virgil nodded to himself for a minute. “I guess it’s a good thing that you found me, huh?”  _

_ Now they were verging on dangerous territory. Patton reached out and took Virgil’s hand, an action that he had found to be the least starting to Virgil of all his usual forms of physical contact. “You know,” he said, trying to change the topic, “Logan likes people watching too.”  _

_ “Logan…” Virgil mused. “He’s one of those lunch friends you introduced me to the other day. “Crop top, green hair? Or his twin, unnamed football player number four?”  _

_ A small giggle bubbled up out of Patton. “Neither. Those are Remus and Roman, Logan’s the tall one with the… interesting haircut.” _

_ “Right,” Virgil nodded. “How’d that happen anyway? It looks like he went at it with a pair of those safety scissors.”  _

_ “Remus gave it to him while he was asleep,” Patton explained, glancing up at the dulled lighting high above them. “He was asleep at the time, so it’s not exactly like he consented.”  _

_ “Was Remus drunk?” Virgil said suspiciously.  _

_ “No, he’s just kind of like that. He’s really sweet when you get to know him though,” Patton said, wincing a little bit. “When you really get to know him.”  _

_ “I can’t believe they’re even a part of the same friend group,” Virgil replied, shaking his head.  _

_ Patton picked at his cuticles, grinning a little bit. “They’ve been friends since before they ever knew me, and I’m about ninety percent sure they like each other.”  _

_ “What? No way!” Virgil’s eyes were wide.  _

_ Now Patton was really giggling. “Say what you will, there’s no other reason that Logan would keep the haircut. I think they’d be kind of cute together!”  _

_ “You and no one else,” Virgil said, giggling with him now. The headphones around his shoulders shook up and down with his laughter.  _

_ “No, I’m serious!” Patton protested, laughter mingling with his words. “They just don’t realize it yet,” he said stubbornly. “But they’ll end up together.”  _

_ Virgil rolled his eyes fondly. “I’ll hold you to that, Pattycakes. You see romance in the strangest places.”  _

_ “I just think it’s neat,” Patton responded cheerfully, his grin stretching across his entire face.  _

Virgil had been a mix of resigned and amused when he found out that Remus and Logan were, in fact, dating. “I can’t believe you were right,” he would say every now and then to Patton, shaking his head like he still couldn’t figure out why Logan and Remus would ever get together in the first place. “I can’t believe it.” 

He’d been a part of the group for almost three years now, and he was still surprised by Patton’s emotional spider sense. 

“I’m so glad you two have figured things out!” Patton had squealed as soon as he had seen them at lunch, looking between Janus’ and Roman’s slightly stunned faces. 

“W-we haven’t even told you guys yet!” Roman had protested, spluttering. 

“Don’t question it,” Virgil had advised, shaking his head. “Patton always knows.”    
  
“Besides, you two are holding hands under the table,” Logan added on without looking up from his book. 

“I didn’t have to look at any of that!” Patton said with another grin. “You two are positively  _ glowing.” _

Remus’ head poked up. 

“I swear to all that is holy Remus, if you say one word about afterglow I will personally rip your head off of your shoulders,” Roman said. 

“Aww,” Remus said with a pout, letting his head fall against Logan’s shoulder. “You guys are no fun at all!”

“So,” Patton said, leaning in with a grin, “Are you two going to go to Prom together?”  _ Please say yes, please say yes.  _ Prom was such an exciting time of year!

“Oh my gosh,” Roman said, eyes wide. “I completely forgot about that!” That was pretty shocking. Roman was one of those people who counted down dates until dances happened, he was Patton’s most frequent ‘date’. 

“Between the show bening right around the corner and schoolwork and everything else, that was completely off of my radar,” Janus agreed with a shrug. “I dunno if I’ve even paid my class dues.” 

“What about you guys, Remus, Logan?” Patton asked, a hint of disappointment clouding his eyes for a moment.

“Honestly, Patton, dances are not quite my ‘speed,’” Logan responded. “I would much prefer to spend the night in a quiet room reading a nice book.” Logan had accompanied them to approximately one dance, freshman year, and even that was under duress. 

Remus didn’t say anything. 

“Come on,” Patton said with a small grin. “It’s the first year that you guys get to go… It would be so awesome for us to all be able to go together this time! And Prom is such a fun night too,” he reassured them. 

Patton was the only one of the group who had gone to Prom before. He had platonically accompanied different upperclassmen as both a freshman and a sophomore, and he had had a blast. Dances were fun! They were a fun way to spend time with your friends, and it was always enjoyable to get dressed up all fancy for a night, at least for him. 

“I’ll consider it!” Remus finally blurted out, looking like he already had more than considered it. “I’d love to go! Unless…” he looked over at Logan, ducking his head down a little bit as he took into account his slightly more introverted boyfriend’s view on dances. 

Logan looked up at Remus. There was a moment during which neither of them spoke, and everyone at the table looked back and forth from Logan to Remus and then back to Logan. Though neither of them opened their mouths, after a moment they turned back to the group. 

“Sure,” Logan agreed, even cracking a small smile.

Remus looked like Christmas had come early, and Patton could feel his own eyes light up. “Yay!” he squealed. “Oh, it’s so fun you guys, you have no idea!” 

“I myself wouldn’t exactly be opposed to a night of dancing,” Janus said, offhand, and Patton could see the cogs in Roman’s head begin to turn. 

Sure enough, by the time that they had made it to third block, Roman had texted him. 

_ Roman: Patton, what do you know about prom-posals?  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Possibly the most self indulgent chapter yet, I hope you all liked it!! You guys have been sooooo nice, your comments are like the sweetest comments I've ever received and I just light up every time I see you guys in my inbox. <3 (And for Genderlessfish, that is absolutely perfect- I'm imagining that the other kids in the class are like 'oh shit oh shit' and Logan is just like 'alright guys break it up' and just kinda sticks his foot in between them without looking up from whatever he's doing lmao)
> 
> Also!! Before you all go, I have an inquiry for you guys if you want to give an opinion lol. I've been doing a lot of self indulgent ideas lately, and my most recent obsession has been creating a world where all of the sides have different powers for some reason, I've been planning some stuff out and some twists and turns in the plot (wow I'm writing plot omg) and other fun stuff, probably with the same ships cause I'm a sucker for these guys. Basically it's a superhero AU idea I can't get out of my head. Anywho, would any of y'all read that or is that less your speed, or? Idk, just wondering what your thoughts on the thing would be. Sorry for making all these notes so long btw, hope you have a lovely day! :D


	20. Bee Mine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, with this chapter, we have officially cleared 40kt, and made this work the longest fic I have ever written!!! :D
> 
> It's been so much fun so far, and there's still so much more I have to write for you guys, so I just hope that you enjoy the story, honestly. You all make my day with your sweet comments so I hope that I can at least bring a little bit of joy to yours. <3

Roman had a plan. Well, he had maybe half of a plan. The other half of his plan was mostly adrenaline and a really strong wistful feeling. Patton, the incredible person that he was, was incredibly helpful and quite possibly just as excited about this than he was. 

When they had started their planning, Roman had this image in his head where he rode up to the school on a white horse, clutching a bouquet of red roses and a small stuffed animal, which he would deposit in a smitten Janus’ arms with a winning smile and a wink. Janus would swoon as he asked him, and agree immediately. His fellow classmates would cheer, and he would sweep his love into his arms and ride away with him into the sunset. 

“I don’t know where to find a horse,” Patton had replied tactfully.

So that was scrapped. 

Roman’s next idea revolved around staging a rehearsal on a day they had none and making the entire theatre cast come in to help out. He would then serenade Janus with his song from the play, “Gaston”. After that, he would get down on one knee and ask Janus to be the Belle to his Gaston and to accompany him to the prom. Janus, floored by Roman’s dedication to him, would accept and kiss him passionately on the spot. Their entire cast would cheer, and the two of them would get in Roman’s minivan and drive off into the sunset. 

“Belle hated Gaston, you fricking idiot,” Virgil had commented from his spot next to Patton, not even looking up from his phone. “She ended up with the Beast.” 

  
And another idea was scrapped. 

Roman’s third idea was to physically mail himself to Janus’ house, or at least have Virgil and Remus deposit him on the front step and ring the doorbell for him. When Janus came to open the door, he would open the box and Roman would spring up in front of him, holding a massive box of chocolates and a fancy necklace, and prom-propose to him right in front of him and whoever else happened to be standing at the door, maybe his parents. Then, when Janus inevitably agreed, he would scoop him up in his arms, and carry his love off into the sunset. 

“I’m not so sure that one is such a good idea, kiddo,” Patton had said hesitantly, biting his lip. “Janus hasn’t really spoken much about his home life to this point, we wouldn’t want to infringe on anything happening over there.” 

“Besides, Janus isn’t really the jewelry type,” Virgil added with a pop of his gum. “You’d think you’d know your own boyfriend better than that.” 

Roman had flushed a bright red. 

Yet another idea, scrapped. 

None of this was helped by the fact that as they got closer to prom season, more and more prom-posals seemed to happen all around them. Remus even did one, to everyone else’s shock. 

The day that Remus prom-posed to Logan had started out pretty normal, even though Remus was a little bit more jittery than normal. They’d driven to school, gotten through first and second block, and made it all the way to lunch before anything had even happened. 

“I must go,” Remus had announced with purpose, standing up suddenly and walking briskly away from their table. 

  
Logan had closed his eyes for a moment, letting out breath he had seemed to be holding in the entire lunch period. His eyes held a sort of determination in them that seemed a tad bit of an overreaction for a lunch period. 

“What was that about?” Roman wondered aloud, taking another bite of his lunch and making a weird face. “That was strange… even for Remus.” 

Patton just giggled, clapping his hands together a couple of times and giving Virgil an excited look. 

“LOGAN BERRY!” 

The voice startled all of them, loud enough to be heard over the cafeteria hustle and bustle, so loud that some of the other students nearby quieted down. 

“You’re kidding me,” Roman said, his voice barely a whisper. 

Remus was walking towards their table, a huge grin stretching across his entire face. In his hands he held a big sign, which Roman had to imagine had originally been white, but had been covered in so much paint and color that you could barely tell that anymore. 

  
Remus was quite the artist, and the red and pink shades of paint were artfully splattered and blended, and in the very center of the poster was an accurate drawing of an anatomical heart, with labels and everything. 

The text on the sign simply read; “I have a massive heart-on for you <3”

“Logan Berry,” Remus repeated again, in a more subdued tone. “You’ve been the light in my life for over a decade now, now more than ever. With that being said, would you be so kind as to go to the prom with me?” 

There was a moment during which Logan appeared to be blushing a darker red than the sign itself, though from embarrassment or from love he couldn’t tell, and Roman noticed absentmindedly that nearly everyone around them had their phones out and videoing. 

“Of course,” Logan finally said, a grin stretching across his face despite all of the attention on him.

There was cheering all around them and Remus dropped the sign, throwing himself at Logan, who was still sitting down, and kissing him on the lips. 

Beside him, Janus laughed a little bit and let out a whoop. Then he turned to Roman. “Wow, that’s… very them,” his boyfriend commented, grinning. 

“I know, right?” Roman chuckled along with him. “Romantic too, if you squint closely enough,” he joked. 

“Still, I couldn’t believe that Logan was okay with all of that attention,” Janus said, still laughing good naturedly. “It sounds horrible. At least Remus had the sense to clear it with him before he did it, I would hate it if that was just sprung on me and I was put on the spot like that.” 

Roman felt like he had been smacked in the face. “Haha, yeah,” he said subtly, “You wouldn’t even like it if it was sprung on you by someone that you knew you would want to go to prom with?” 

Janus scrunched up his nose. “It’s not really… my kind of thing, you know? Like, I’m okay with the acting, I’m just playing a part there, but just all of our classmates staring at me and videoing me?” Janus shuddered. “Yikes.” 

“Yeah,” Roman echoed. “Yikes.” 

Hours later he sat in his room with Patton and Logan, head in his hands. “How could I be so stupid?” he cried aloud. “Those scenarios were all things that  _ I _ would want, not things that he would want!” 

Patton had a look on his face that said he had already figured this out, but he patted Roman’s hair down softly, fingers massaging his scalp as he watched the tension slowly begin to ease out of his friend like juice being squeezed from an orange. 

Roman sighed again, flopping over and looking up at Patton desperately. “I almost fucked up, really badly,” he whispered. 

“But you didn’t, kiddo,” Patton replied, foregoing his usual light reprimanding for cursing in favor of soothing his anxious friend. “That’s the important part. Communication is important, and now that you know this, I’m sure you’ll be able to make an even more suitable prom-posal for him now, one that you’ll be a hundred billion percent certain that he’ll love with every bone in his body!” 

Roman cracked a smile at that. “You’re probably right, Popstar, I just feel so… selfish, almost. You know?”    
  
Patton considered his words. “I don’t think you were being selfish, Roman. I think you got excited, because this is your element, and you naturally assumed that others would follow in your excitement. It’s not an unreasonable conclusion to jump to, it just means you’re only human.” 

Roman nodded in that way he did when he didn’t quite believe him. “Thanks,” he said. Then he turned to Logan, who was, in a strange twist, not sitting with Remus draped across him for once. “I can’t believe that you were okay with a big thing like that, Lo.”

Logan looked over at him, a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips. “Remus asked me very nicely,” was all that he said in response, as he clearly looked back fondly on the memory. Roman waited for him to continue, but that was all that he got. 

“Oh,” he responded. “Okay then.” Respecting Logan’s privacy was good, and something he was striving to get better at, he reminded himself. Then, an idea began to spark in the very back of his mind. Sitting up, Roman could feel the idea itself begin to take place in his mind, the different thoughts and concepts taking root and growing off of one another. 

He took Janus to a fancy restaurant first. Sure, they were dating, but as far as he could tell, it was kind of a ‘thing’ to prom-pose, no matter whether or not you knew their answer. He wasn’t as sure as he would have liked to have been, he hadn’t ever dated anyone this long before, let alone gotten to prom-pose. 

“Wow, this is a tad bit above our usual caliber of restaurant,” Janus had chuckled when Roman had pitched the idea to him, but when he realized the offer was serious, his cheeks had tinted pink. “That sounds like a lovely idea,” he had replied, in that silky smooth voice that made Roman’s knees go weak. 

They made small talk while they ate, talking about everything and nothing and what lay in between. Janus was wearing a black suit, and Roman had gifted him a single red rose. His honey and hazel eyes sparkled in the low light, all for Roman, and he couldn’t help but feel like the most special person in the entire building. 

Roman paid the bill, and they slipped out of their booth, hand in hand. As they were approaching the car, Roman brought up part two of his ‘plan’. 

“I was wondering if there was one other place you would be comfortable accompanying me tonight,” Roman said softly, glancing over and chuckling at Janus’ slightly suspicious glare. “No worries, it’s nowhere you haven’t been before, I’m not planning to murder you. I just don’t want this night to end just yet.”

“Alright,” Janus agreed, smiling at the quip and allowing Roman to open the door to his van for him. 

They drove there in silence, but not an uncomfortable one. A little bit of anticipation seemed to hang between them, but not in a bad way. When they finally pulled off of the main road and down the same way they had so many months before, Janus’ eyes lit up with recognition. 

“I see you’ve figured me out,” Roman said with another smile. Janus returned it. 

They stepped over the weeds and vines and back into the theatre that Roman had spent so much of his childhood in.    
  
“Are we going to dance again?” Janus asked him teasingly. “You know I’m not the best dancer.” 

“Well,” Roman said, leading him to the stage once more. “I did think you might want some practice before Prom.” He paused, looking over at Janus and pulling a little box out of his back pocket. “That is… if you accept my prom-posal, of course.” 

Janus took the box, his long fingers wrapping around the dark box and pulling it open slowly. 

Inside was a tiny little sculpture of a bumblebee, nestled in tissue paper. Janus gasped softly at the tiny piece of clay, painted with yellows and blacks and coated with a light smattering of gloss. It looked like it must have taken hours. Well, maybe not hours, but a much longer time than should have been justifiable, maybe. 

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Janus whispered. 

Roman’s grin grew. “When I heard that you had wanted to go to the prom, I wanted to give you a big prom-posal, in front of everyone. I wanted everyone in the entire school to know just how lucky I was, just how much you meant to me. I came up with every single idea I could, each more fanciful than the last.” Roman paused. “And then I realized that you might not want that, at least not in the same way that I did. It took me a moment to recalibrate, but once I got over myself, I realized that it was so not about how I ask you, and more about how you answer me. So I’m sitting here in front of you, Janus Devon, my doll, and asking; will you  _ bee  _ mine?”

Janus’ face split into a dopey grin. “You idiot, you knew I was going to say yes to you already,” he responded, surging forward and closing the gap between them, capturing Roman’s lips with his own. “I accept your prom-posal,” he added for good measure. “Dork.” 

“Love you,” Roman managed to get out between kisses. 

Janus’ hands tightened around his waist. “Love you too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, for a couple of reasons, I haven't actually had a chance to go to Prom, (thanks Covid) so while I've been to other dances, I'm a little bit at a loss for what special things exactly go on during prom as opposed to during just the other "normal" dances. That's kind of embarassing, but oh well. If y'all have any prom stories or anything you'd like to share to help a gal out, it would be much appreciated. Btw CKTCAT, you sound like you've had an absolute blast at Prom and that sounds just so freaking cool! 
> 
> Update on the superpowered AU: It's in the works, about halfway planned out, and the first chapter should be out soon! :D


	21. Tech Week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I write out this chapter instead of writing tech week in passing to elongate the amount of time before I need to write out the prom chapter? Maybe... Did I also slightly overdo the effect that tech week has on theatre kids for dramatic effect and because I was having fun with it? Also maybe...
> 
> (I'd just like to take a moment and say thank you so freaking much maxiemoo01, I commend your sheer willpower and holy crap I hope you got some sleep! I'm thrilled to have been the one to sort of introduce you to Roceit!)

As sweet as all of the prom-posals were, there was one week they were all forgetting: tech week. 

For some reason, at his school, tech week occurred in that strange period of incredibly inconvenient time where the prom was only about two weeks away but finals were also roughly two weeks away. Roman loved theatre with his entire body, but even he agreed that tech week was something to be powered through, not something to relish. 

Roman lasted until about Thursday before his lack of sleep started to get in the way of his general performance. It didn’t help that their teachers had all kicked it into high gear, thanks to finals fast approaching. For some, that just meant an extra worksheet to do here or there, but for some of his other teachers, that meant double, maybe triple the amount of homework. That seemed unfair, but the end of the year was always the most chaotic, and Roman had known what he had signed up for when he took part in the play, same as last year and the year before. 

“Ugh,” he had muttered halfway through third block, rubbing the black spots from his vision and squinting at the board again. “When am I ever going to use astronomy again anyway?” 

“This lesson is about anatomy,” Logan had helpfully corrected him.

Roman just let his head thunk down quietly on the desk in front of him. “Sure, anatomy works too,” he muttered. “Same difference, right?” 

Logan looked at him as though he had grown a second head, opening his mouth and then closing it again. 

Rehearsals had quickly stretched to fill almost the entire night, and Roman felt lucky if he and Remus made it home by nine each night. His life felt a little bit like an endless cycle of schoolwork, rehearsals, and sleeping. They crammed sleep into their schedule where they could, and Roman had caught himself nodding off while doing his homework more than once. 

If he had to guess, Logan appeared to be doing the best out of all of them. Tech week was stressful, sure, but he had been preparing for finals and cramming extra work that didn’t quite fit into his schedule all year. However, he did get testier during tech week, most likely as a result of all of the heightened emotions around them. 

“I am telling you for the final time, you can’t just do things like this, Virgil,” he had snarled out halfway through their Thursday rehearsal, upon finding out that the other boy had sent some of his more boisterous crew members over to “help Logan out” for a bit and give himself and Janus a breather and a break from their constant yelling and generally unhelpful and bothersome attitudes. “You are not the only one who feels like they can’t stand the sound of anyone else’s voice anymore, and you are certainly not the only one who has things that need to get done! I can’t babysit for you just because some freshmen don’t want to listen to you!” 

“Yeah, well sue me, teach, sorry for even assuming you would be willing to help a guy out!” Virgil had shot back, just as emotionally charged. He took another large swig of his annual addiction- an energy drink. 

Virgil just didn’t really sleep during tech week. He had found out that those precious four hours he usually spent in his bed getting valuable rest could be put to better use, and so he cut them out of his schedule completely. Virgil was the kind of studier who put it off until he couldn’t anymore, and then he crammed to the point of his own detriment. He drank five hour energies and Monster drinks and Red Bull like it was his job during tech week, and the bags under his eyes seemed to grow from day to day. Lack of sleep made him a bit emotional, but mostly he was just grumpily resigned.    
  
“I’m fine, Patton,” Virgil muttered during lunch on Friday, slouching further into his black hoodie. “Just let me be already, I’ll sleep when this nightmare’s nightmare is over and done.” 

“Do you mean tech week or finals?” Patton responded, sounding nervous. 

“Yes,” Virgil said and took another swig of his acid green energy drink. 

Patton’s eyes welled up with tears. 

For Patton, tech week simply heightened everything that he was already feeling. Everyone around him was upset or grumpy, and there was absolutely nothing he could do about it. On top of that, he had a huge amount on his plate, with the added bonus that his family was currently housing a new kitten, which was being kept in his room before they could introduce it to the other cats, and it liked to stomp on him when he tried to sleep. That was enough to make anyone emotionally unstable.

“Virgil please, I’m only asking this because I c-care about you!” Patton said in a wobbly voice, and then the waterworks started. “Just take care of yourself! You always do this and it just tears me apart to see you doing this when you could so easily just do your schoolwork another time!” Somehow he still managed to lecture Virgil with tears pouring down his face. It was a talent. 

Used to Patton’s theatrical (hah) outbursts by now, Virgil passed him a napkin to wipe the tears. “I can quit whenever I want,” he replied emotionlessly. 

Remus burst into giggles next to them, slapping his hand down on the table as he wheezed. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day!” he cried out, shoulders still shaking with laughter. 

Remus seemed to just get louder during tech week. He was still his same, slightly slap happy self, but just that much moreso. He laughed more constantly, louder, and over stupider things. His grades usually slipped a bit during tech week as well, but this year Logan was refusing to let that happen. Remus’ slap happy attitude surprisingly didn’t clash very badly with Logan and Virgil’s testiness, or cause Patton any more strife than usual. 

“Logan,” Remus had whined somewhere in the middle of Wednesday, draping his body across his boyfriend. “I’m having an argument with myself and you need to settle it.” 

Logan’s fingers absentmindedly worked through a couple of the knots in Remus’ fluffy hair. “What appears to be the issue, Remus?” 

“Do beetles menstruate?” Remus pouted. “Because I say no, but on the other hand I also say… yes. Tell me that I’m wrong, Lolo! I need to know!” he sighed overdramatically. “I think I’m just overthinking this. Like, one of me is right, but I don’t know which one, you know?” 

“Ummm,” Logan said eloquently, most likely wondering what the hell the inside of Remus’ head looked like at that moment. You could practically see the steam coming out of his ears. “Beetles aren’t mammals.” 

“Speaking of beetles, guys, did you know that there’s an insect called Neotrogla curvata where the females have penises and the males have vaginas?” Janus inserted himself into their conversation suddenly. 

Like Virgil, Janus had turned to energy drinks during this time, but lack of sleep didn’t do much to him other than make him incredibly crude. This was probably the biggest shock of the group. He and Remus vibed strongly during this time, as Janus’ filter, usually so airtight, disintegrated almost completely. 

“That has  _ nothing  _ to do with our conversation,” Logan responded, sounding incredulous. “But to answer your question, Remus-” 

“Pfff!” Janus interrupted him again, leaning over to Remus. “Logan said butt.” 

He and Remus dissolved into giggles. 

“ _ However, _ to answer your question, Remus,” Logan continued, looking as though he was contemplating murder. His explanation was no longer wanted or needed however, as both his boyfriend and friend’s attention had been diverted to butts, and the two of them sat there laughing at something not really worth laughing at. “How old are you guys, seven?” Logan groaned, putting his head in his hands. 

“You’ll get through this, buddy,” Virgil commented dryly. 

And indeed, they did get through it. As sarcastic and unfeeling as Virgil’s words had been, they did make it through the week. Sure, they were all a little too tired and a little bit too high strung to feel good about one hundred percent of their actions, but hey, let’s face it, no high schooler ever felt good about one hundred percent of their actions anyway. 

Come their Saturday show, Roman was practically vibrating off of the walls. He had rehearsed his lines to himself all of last night, too nervous to sleep, and now the day was finally there. They had to be at the school by eleven, but time just couldn’t seem to move quickly enough. 

“Roman, relax,” said Remus quietly, knowing just how hypocritical he was being in that moment. “This is nothing you haven’t done before, you just need to chill out. You’ll be fine, trust me.” 

“We should get there early,” Roman replied, tapping his leg with energy he didn’t know he had. “Eleven is too late, let’s leave now, we can get there by ten thirty. Then we can run lines together again.” 

“We’re already going to be there two hours before any of the audience is even allowed inside,” Remus reminded him, doing his best to sound calming. 

“Right, right,” Roman said with a nod. “Stupid idea, stupid idea.” 

“Not stupid,” Logan chimed in, walking back into their living room, three steaming mugs clasped in his hands. “Simply unnecessary.” He handed Remus’ mug to him with a kiss on his forehead and then moved over to Roman. 

He accepted the mug from Logan gratefully. It had little cartoon doodles of dalmations all over it, and smelled faintly of lemon. Logan always made the three of them tea before a show, it was as much tradition at this point as anything else. “Thanks.” He took a small sip and did his best to calm his jittering nerves.

The tea had been a tradition almost as long as the nerves. Roman didn’t know why he got them, but like clockwork, they emerged for the twenty four hours before he set foot on the stage, evaporating moments before his performance. 

“Of course,” Logan replied, taking a sip from his own glass. It had Mickey Mouse on it, wearing an oversized wizard’s hat and ordering several brooms around the room with magic. “Logically speaking, you are probably  _ the _ most prepared cast member, Roman. I can’t think of anyone who has spent more hours going through their lines again and again as many times as you have.” 

“Frankly, you’ve been pissing us all off a little bit with all of that,” Remus agreed cheerfully. “I thought Virgil was going to smack you the other day. Janus and I were taking bets on who was going to lose it and flip on you first.” 

“Thanks?” Roman repeated, a little less certain about whether or not he had just been complimented or insulted. 

“Happy to help!” Remus said, beaming and taking a long sip of his drink.    
  


Roman let out a long breath, clearing his head. He had this. He had been practicing for this all year, and he knew his lines like the back of his hand. There wasn’t a question about it. This was fun, this was what gave him that rush of adrenaline and excitement that he so desperately craved. This was his element. 

With a smile and a nod, he sat back and finally relaxed, listening to Logan and Remus’ playful banter, Logan sliding onto the couch next to his boyfriend and putting his legs in his lap. Silently, he thanked the universe for putting such good people in his life. 

Roman most definitely did have it. It would be a lie to say that the entire play went out without a hitch, but Roman performed every line with the gusto and the swagger of a man who thought he was on top of the world, and he did it with his own sense of style and flair. 

When the curtains raised and the cast ran out onto the stage, the cheering was overwhelming. Roman knew his hair was slicked back against the top of his head from running his fingers through it over and over, he knew his makeup had smudged a little bit from the aftermath of Gaston’s dramatic fall, and he knew that there was a semi-visible red mark on his cheek from where Janus had kissed him backstage, but he didn’t care. 

He threw his arms up with the rest of the cast and bowed, grinning wildly. They always ended up bowing multiple times, but the first was always the most exhilarating for him. 

Throwing up his right arm dramatically as a thank you to the tech box, he watched Logan flash the lights in acknowledgement, and then they were done, running back behind the closing curtain. 

Their group would all get together soon, for celebratory first show ice cream, but right now, he got to bask in the moment for just a little bit longer and go back out to the audience. 

Practically skipping, Roman ran out to mingle with the very people who had been cheering for him only moments previously, the biggest smile possible stretching to cover his entire face. As he reached the doors, he felt a small hand slip into his own, and he turned to see Janus beside him, an equally high smile resting on his face. 

Sure, finals were coming up and he didn’t have anything to wear to prom yet, but for now they were basking in the moment, and the moment was fabulous. Roman squeezed Janus’ hand, and the two of them walked out into the mass of people. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Janus canonically wears lipstick in this work, just so y'all know. No real reason, I just think it's neat. 
> 
> Thank you guys so freaking much for all of your support and love and sweet comments and kudos and general awesomeness! I was absolutely blown away by how many of you expressed your delight over the last update, and you all just make my whole freaking day. I don't think I could have gotten this work out to where it is now half as quickly without all of your support. :D
> 
> (And to everyone who helped out with prom stories thank you so freaking much!!)


	22. Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have a self indulgent chapter everyone. We're in the endgame now.

Roman was not known for his humble and laid back attitude. That being said, in the days that followed their performance, he gracefully accepted what seemed like more compliments than Janus had gotten in his entire life. It was, for lack of a better word, ‘a real shocker’. 

Prom was fast approaching, and the closer it got, the more excited everyone around them got. Even Roman’s mother was prodding them all about outfits and corsages and rides and everything under the sun. 

How Janus found himself dress shopping was a mystery to him. He had told Roman he was going to wear a suit, and then he had found an affordable suit to rent for the night, and rented it. The suit was nice, just plain black with a tasteful little ring of golden yellow. Done. Easy. No worries on his end. 

Yet Virgil and Patton had dragged him dress shopping. 

“I don’t get it,” Janus said to Virgil, as the two of them stood outside the changing stall. “You’re also wearing a tuxedo to Prom, are you not? Why are we here?” 

Virgil just chuckled. “I’ve accompanied Pat dress shopping since we were freshmen,” he explained. “We usually make a whole day out of it. It’s just another excuse to hang out and joke around, and Pat loves trying on dresses bit. I usually rate them one to ten for him.”

“Besides!” Patton said chipperly, pulling open the changing stall and coming out to greet them in a cutesy little dress, yellow sunflowers on a white background. “This year it’s extra special, Virgil has to be here because we have to make sure we don’t clash!” 

“Oh, are you going together?” Janus said, smiling as Patton twirled for them. 

“As friends, yeah,” Virgil said. “I’d give that one a six, Pat.” 

Patton giggled and disappeared into the stall again. 

“Patton promised me he would accompany me to my first prom,” Virgil explained to him, grinning a bit. “It was about halfway through freshman year, and some of the older cellists asked him if he’d like to go with their friend, so the whole group would all be there.”

“That’s very kind of them,” Janus said, smiling back at Virgil. 

“Yeah, I thought so. Patton had a blast. Anyway, after he got asked to go, I basically told him that I didn’t think I would ever get to go to Prom, since…” Virgil scrunched up his nose. “I didn’t see any romantic relationships in my future and Pat was basically my only friend.” 

Janus made a small noise.  _ Virgil sounds like me my freshman year.  _

“But Patton promised me right there and then that the first year we were allowed to go to Prom he would take me, so I could get that authentic high school experience or whatever,” Virgil finished. 

Janus chuckled. 

“It’s true!” Patton huffed, reemerging in a pastel blue dress that came to about mid calf. 

“Give us a twirl,” Virgil instructed with a small grin and a cadence that made Janus realize just how natural and second nature this outing was for them. 

Patton obliged, the edges of the skirt doing that lovely thing where they twirl with you and then keep twirling when you stop. Janus hadn’t paid much attention to girls, but he did appreciate the dresses.

“Oooh, solid seven for the extra twist,” Virgil said with a nod. 

“I’d go as high as an eight,” Janus said, and they both looked at him for a moment before their faces split into matching grins. Janus felt a warm, tingly feeling in his stomach. 

“I like the sound of that second opinion,” Patton commented, and Virgil rolled his eyes. 

“I’m rating the dresses, Pat, not you. We discussed this last year!” 

“You’re rating how the dresses look on me!” 

“That doesn’t make any difference, if I were rating a burlap sack on you I’d give it a one and you wouldn’t be offended about that, would you?” 

“You rated that sundress a one last year!” Patton protested. 

It took Janus a moment to realize that they weren’t actually arguing. The corners of Virgil’s mouth were twitching with his barely contained amusement, and Patton was outright grinning, a fond sparkle in his eye. 

“That’s because that sundress was two sizes too big and also from the children’s section, Pat! A fifth grader would wear that dress, not you!” 

“I thought it was nice,” Patton said with a clearly embellished pout. 

  
Virgil rolled his eyes. “You’re unbelievable. Fine, let me reiterate. I was rating those dresses… on you… for  _ Prom. _ ” 

“Oh, well why didn’t you just say so?” Patton said, grinning. 

Virgil shoved his shoulder lightly, grinning just as widely now. “Try on your last dress, sunshine.” 

Patton did, and then decided that none of those dresses were appealing to him. So they moved on, using Patton’s yellow bug driving them from shop to shop. They stopped for coffee once, and even though Patton and Janus both only got frappuccinos, and Virgil snarked at them about it over his plain black coffee, Janus had a great time. 

_ Maybe dress shopping  _ can _ be fun.  _

The dress that Patton finally decided on was a pastel blue, so light it was almost white, with little purple clouds dotted along the bottom. Apparently it would match well with Virgil’s deep violet suit. The dress also had that twirl factor, which was, in Janus’ opinion, the most important part of any dress. 

“Oh,” was the first word out of his mouth when Patton had stepped out behind the curtain wearing it, as Janus took him in. The dress looked good on him, really good. Beside him, he could see Virgil equally enamoured by the swishy fabric and pleasing colors. 

“Yeah that’s a ten if I’ve ever seen one,” Virgil said, and Janus nodded in agreement. 

Patton giggled. “Yay!” He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his little nose and did a twirl of excitement. 

“Congratulations, Janus,” Virgil said with a small smile. “You have officially made it through your first annual dress search.” 

Janus just grinned. “Nice.” 

“Now Patton insists on treating us to dinner, since he dragged us around all day. Just roll with it, he refuses to let us pay out of the goodness of his heart and a little bit of spite.” 

Janus laughed. “I think I can manage not paying for the night.” 

Patton took them to a nice little home owned pizzeria on the southern end of the town. It was nicknamed “Rosa’s,” and Patton seemed to know everyone who worked there. 

The three of them sat there, devouring their various pizza slices. Janus had a warm feeling in his chest, and not just because he’d insisted on shoving the pizza into his mouth the moment it finished reheating in the pizzeria’s little brick oven. “You guys are great,” he proclaimed.  _ Shit, why did I say that? I mean, it’s true, but still.  _

Virgil and Patton looked up at that, twin grins on their faces. “Aww, we think you’re great too, kiddo!” Patton exclaimed. 

“No, I mean it,” Janus said, wondering where all of this was coming from. He kept speaking. “You all took me into your group without a second thought, comforted me when I didn’t deserve your friendship yet, let me in on your traditions…” He shook his head. “You guys are undeniably the greatest group of friends a high schooler could hope to meet.” 

“Well, I sure hope you’re including yourself in that same group,” Virgil said. “You’re definitely a part of it.” 

Janus smiled at Virgil. “I hope we have classes together next year.” Where was all of this coming from? It was so candid. 

“Me too,” Virgil responded in his gruff voice. “You seem like a pretty chill guy, even if you’re dating Princey.” 

“You can’t hold that against me for too long,” Janus said with a small grin. 

“I can hold that against you as long as you’re together,” Virgil countered. 

“Well, then I guess you’ll have to get used to holding it against me,” Janus said with a shrug. “I hate to break it to you but I have absolutely no plans to break up with Roman.” 

“Ever?” Patton blurted out suddenly. 

“I- what?” Janus was thrown off a little bit. He took another bite of his pizza. It had cooled down significantly. 

Patton giggled a little bit and Virgil tried to kick him under the table, missing badly and catching Janus in the leg instead. 

“Ouch,” he deadpanned. 

“I mean, are you planning on staying with him forever?” Patton asked him again, and this time Virgil managed to kick him. 

“Come on Pat, lay off. He’s in high school, there’s no reason he should have to think about that kind of thing right now.” 

Janus just smiled. “Let me get back to you on that one, Patton? Say, maybe you could give me a couple of years?” 

Patton just laughed a little bit. “Sure kiddo, no pressure.” Then he leaned in, eyes glinting dangerously. “But if you or Roman hurt one another I will not stop from instantly tearing both of you down for hurting my friends, you hear me?” 

“Patton, no-” 

Janus could feel himself laughing. “I hope we have classes together next year too, Pat,” he replied. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See up next: the gang finally goes to prom :)
> 
> Oh yah update on the superpowers AU; I've outlined most of the story and even written the first chapter! Somehow I ended up writing in Logince though, which I didn't even realize until it happened, so that's a thing. I'm tossing around the idea of putting up the first chapter, but when I do then that means I'll allow myself to work on the second lol and I'm already doing a Punk Logan thing rn too...


	23. Prom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> During which I describe prom by not describing prom at all

“Mom, please,” Roman groaned, still standing at the bottom of their stairs, one hand on the banister, the other on his hip. He kept the same cheesy smile on his face the entire time, knowing better than to break his position while his mother was ‘in the zone’. “You must have fifty of the same picture by now,” he tried. 

“If we had to endure it, you have to endure it, brother dearest,” Remus spoke up from across the room. “Mother loves us not. Mother is a cruel devil who cares only for herself.” 

_ Roman: Please get here faster, Mom’s taken like a million pictures and she’s still going _

_ Janus: Pat’s driving us over now, love. Try to survive.  _

“In ten years you boys are going to look back on these pictures and fucking cherish them,” Roman’s mother growled, teeth gritted. “Whether you’d like to or not.” Then, she looked at the last picture she had taken of Roman, most likely exactly the same as its fifty predecessors, and sighed happily. “My little boy is all grown up,” she said, “Who wouldn’t want to document that?” 

“You didn’t document Remus growing up half as much as you are documenting with me,” Roman grumbled under his breath. 

“Oh no, I knew that Remus was grown up when he came home drunk halfway through your freshman year,” his mother discredited his mumbling with a wave of her hand. 

Roman snickered a bit at that. Remus had come home to an angry mother and an even angrier Logan. Between the lecturing the two of them gave him, he hadn’t touched so much as another drop of alcohol since, and who could blame him? Logan and their mother were probably the scariest people that Roman knew. His smirk grew into a wide grin. 

“There’s that natural smile!” his mother crowed, snapping another picture. 

“What can I say?” Remus said with a grin of his own, wrapping his arm around Logan off to the side. Logan was deeply invested in whatever he was reading on his phone, but he leaned into Remus’ touch and a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “Sometimes it pays off to be the evil twin.” 

“Oh, don’t think you’ve gotten yourself out of group pictures, Remus!” his mother added, eyes shining. “Sure, I’ve thoroughly documented you and Logan, but let’s get you three all together, come on!” As Remus and Logan shuffled over dejectedly to join him in his suffering at last, Roman’s mother’s camera shutter clicked over and over. “Oh, my three little boys all grown up, look at you!” she cried, continuing to say increasingly sentimental statements that had Logan almost grimacing, “You’ve all been friends for so long, oh, I’m just so glad you get to share this moment!”

“Mom,  _ please, _ ” Roman tried again. It’s not that he didn’t love his mother, he did, but there were only so many pictures he could be expected to take before he went insane. 

“I would be forced to agree with your son, Mrs Prince,” Logan agreed hopefully, “My own mother has already taken a frankly unreasonable number of photographs tonight.” Logan’s mother had taken three photographs, one of Logan by himself, one of Logan with Remus when he ‘picked him up,’ and one of Logan and his father. 

The doorbell saved them.    
  
Roman perked up. “That’s gotta be them!” he exclaimed, heartbeat quickening at the thought of seeing Janus, despite their short time apart. 

His mother sighed. “Go bring them in, but Roman?”    
  
Roman looked at her.   
  
“You will _ cherish _ these.” 

“Yes ma’am.” Roman nodded and scampered off to the door, opening it wide to reveal Patton, Virgil, and Janus.

“Oh shoot Pat, cute dress!” he said by way of greeting, since Patton was front and center, and Roman hadn’t seen his dress yet. 

Patton was absolutely glowing. He wore a deep purple corsage on his wrist, and had done a little bit of subtle makeup. His hair was its usual fluffy, curly mess. 

Virgil stood beside him, smiling fondly at his friend. Virgil’s suit was, as per usual, dark. It fit his slim form well, somehow making him seem even taller. However, his almost signature headphones were missing from his ensemble. Probably for the best. He slid past Roman into the house with Patton, giving Roman a quick once over and a nod of approval. The flower on Virgil’s lapel matched the coloring of Patton’s corsage. 

That left Janus on the front porch, looking as though he had swallowed a small frog. 

“Hey,” Roman said, suddenly shy, looking down bashfully. 

“Uhh, cute dress,” Janus stammered out. 

Roman looked down at it self consciously. The part over his chest was snowy white with little golden accents, but the skirt part of the dress was a stark, brilliant red. It matched his eyeshadow obviously, and his eyeliner was sharp enough to cut a man. He had Logan help draw it on himself earlier just to be sure. Roman cracked a grin at that, feeling a small rush of self confidence. Yeah, it was a cute dress. 

“I- uh, I didn’t know you were wearing a dress,” Janus finally said, as though it were an explanation for his sudden inability to form cohesive sentences. It probably was. 

“And this is exactly why I didn’t tell you,” he whispered to Janus, pulling the taller boy in and down closer to his level, landing a kiss on his lips. Janus felt like putty in his arms, and some part of Roman twisted with the satisfaction that accompanied his newfound power. “I’m also wearing pumps,” he offered, gesturing down to his shoes, the same red as the bottom of his dress. 

“You look good, great, uh, wow. You look wow,” Janus offered, flushing even deeper. “Yeah,” he finished lamely. “Wow.” 

Roman was grinning, relieved to see that the tables had turned, at least for the moment. “Hey, you’re not so bad yourself, doll,” he replied with smoothness he was unaware he possessed, pressing another small kiss to Janus’ lips and seeing his boyfriend’s flush deepen. “I like a classy man.” 

Janus looked like he was about to collapse. “I got you this,” he offered softly, holding out a pure white corsage with a tentative grin. “I didn’t know what color you’d be wearing, but-” 

“I love it!” Roman’s eyes had lit up with glee. He let Janus slip the flower over his wrist, giving him another of his semi-dazzling smiles and watching the flush travel to the tips of Janus’ ears and nose. 

“Pictures! Now!” Roman could hear his mother call from their living room, and he looked at Janus apologetically.    
  
“Sorry, but do you mind? Mom’s really excited about it…”

Janus smiled at him, seeming to relax a little bit. He looked really, unreasonably good in his suit, Roman would have to really drive that point home later. “I’d do just about anything to keep looking at you right now, I believe a few pictures are the least of our worries. Besides, pictures sound great, I’m sure we’ll cherish them forever.” 

Roman squinted at his boyfriend, trying to figure out whether or not he was messing with him. A smile tugged at the corners of Janus’ lips. “Not you too!” Roman said with a groan, dragging his boyfriend into the living room with an announcement of “Janus is here!”

Roman loved his mother, but sometimes he wished that she knew other ways to show her love than aggressive photography. He felt like he’d been standing there for hours, and they probably had pictures of every arrangement of their little group possible. Even Patton and Virgil got a little photoshoot of their own, despite having that covered by their own parental units earlier. They both took it in stride, handling it a lot better than Roman had. 

“So, I see you’ve also received a flower,” Roman said to Patton, grinning at his friend and checking out the blossom on his wrist subtly.  _ Mine is prettier.  _

“Of  _ course _ -et I did!” Patton said with a little giggle, even as Virgil rolled his eyes next to him. “Virgil surprised me with it! He really  _ rose  _ to the occasion!”

Virgil looked at Roman. “The very first words out of his mouth were ‘what in carnation?’. It’s like he’d planned it.” 

“ _ Iris _ you guys would appreciate my puns more,” Patton said. “I spend a lot of time on them!” 

“Jeez dude, do you have like a dictionary full of these things?” Virgil asked him with a small groan. 

“Seriously, Pat, we went so long without hearing a pun from you, we’d almost thought you’d  _ grown _ out of that phase!” Roman tacked on. It was a little lackluster, but it was all he could come up with on the spot. 

“Oopsie daisy,” Patton said with a small shrug and a smile. 

They both stared at him. 

“Okay there’s no way that was a coincidence,” Virgil finally said. 

Patton just gave them a sheepish look. “I had to make up for lost time,” he said in lieu of a proper explanation. 

By the time they were all piling into Roman’s van, the group was all fired up and excited for the dance. Patton plugged his phone into the car to put on some music, and they were off. 

If Roman was being honest, prom was exactly what he expected in so many ways. Some kids drove in in fancy limos, showing off the real diamonds in their hair and their one of a kind, single use suits that would have cost him an arm and a leg and probably were more expensive than a college education. Some kids, like their group, had piled into vans and come in big clusters that now moved about like amoebas, giggling and chatting loudly over the music. Still others came in pairs of two, having picked up their date and driven them. 

They all danced, even Logan. That part surprised Roman more than anything else, honestly. He and Remus danced to fast and slow songs, and when Patton grabbed Logan’s arms and pulled him to join his and Virgil’s circle of meaningless twirling, Logan did that as well. Logan danced like a panther, sleek and precise. Then again, he did everything sleekly and precisely, so perhaps that shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise to anyone. 

Patton danced like an otter, bobbing and weaving through the crowd and losing himself in the beat of the music. He danced with everyone from their group, individually and otherwise, but he never stopped moving. Often, he got dragged into other groups, kids who recognized him, students he’d helped at one point or another. He always returned to them at some point, giggling. He saved all the slow songs for Virgil. 

Virgil, on the other hand, danced like a puppet. His movements were slightly jerky and uncoordinated, though Roman supposed anyone would look uncoordinated dancing next to Patton. Virgil, in all of his lanky teenage glory, managed to step not only on his Patton’s feet during the slow songs, but his own as well. Still, there was a soft smile on his face the entire night. He spent a fair portion of his time hunting down various foods and drinks, and Logan accompanied him sometimes, leaving Remus to dance with Patton. 

Remus danced like a hurricane. He twirled around and around, pushing people out of the way, and he danced almost enough to rival Patton. Everything he danced to included a little bit too much pelvic thrusting and just a tad more hip swaying than should be strictly necessary. Janus caught him grinding on Logan in a corner at one point during the night and just turned around and walked back in the other direction. 

Roman wasn’t sure exactly how Janus danced. Everyone else seemed so easy to pin down, to find a ‘style’ for, if you will, but Janus was an enigma. He probably danced the least out of any of them, and every time Roman thought he’d pinned it down, he changed it up. Then again, Janus himself was an enigma in so many ways, so he supposed that sort of fit. 

If you asked Roman what his favorite part of prom was, he’d answer you in a heartbeat; every second that he spent with Janus in his arms. 

It was a bit of a difficult fit, what with Janus’ shoulders being so much higher than Roman’s, but that didn’t stop him from leading for most every dance. Roman was stubborn by nature, and he was going to make it work, even if it was a little bit awkward and goofy and looked a little bit different, just like them. It was perfect. 

Janus would probably agree with him, despite his lack of a background in dance, he kept up fairly well. Then again, many impromptu dance lessons had helped to prepare him for this night, and under the dimmed cheap auditorium lights, his smile was the brightest thing in the room. 

Roman kissed him many times that night, but most memorably during the last dance of the evening. 

The two of them stood, swaying gently like two cattails in a light breeze, gazing into one another’s eyes. It was horribly, terribly, stereotypically sappy, and Roman wouldn’t have had it any other way. He might not have been able to carry Janus off into the sunset, but just being able to hold him in his arms that night was a pretty close second. 

Janus looked slightly down at him, the distance lessened by the heels Roman had adorned for the night, and smiled softly at him, and before Roman knew it his hands had flown from his waist to his cheeks, and he was kissing Janus like he meant the world to him, trying to show him just how much he was to him. 

“God, I love you,” Janus breathed out between kisses, somehow managing to still sway in time with the music as they continued. 

“God? Now, I wouldn’t go that far, please just call me Roman,” he had said before he could help it. Biting his lip, he looked up at Janus apologetically for killing the mood, but Janus was already laughing at him. 

Roman grinned back at him sheepishly and kissed him again, swallowing the laughter with his own lips. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys... I really hate to say it, but I think this might be the penultimate chapter. It's been such a wild ride with you guys, and I won't go into thank yous and sappy things this chapter, but it's kinda crazy how far this fic has gone. Pretty soon after uploading this, I'll upload the first chapter to Puppeteer, which is the name of the powered AU i've been writing, so if y'all want to hang around even after this fic is done, we can converse over there (I'm trying to get better at answering all of your sweet comments!). 
> 
> But yeah, stay safe, stay awesome, I'll see you guys next chapter, which might be the last, but then again... might not. :)


	24. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: alright brain, time to make this super touching! It's the last chapter and I need to get across how changed these people are!
> 
> My brain: WHO'S READY FOR SOME R E P I T I T I O N ???

Junior year was a wild ride. 

Honestly, if you’d asked anyone in their year, you could find a million different life changing events that occurred over the course of those ten months, each one differing more vastly from the last. These ranged from dating problems to newfound opportunities to petty fistfights in the science hallway. Point being, everyone walked away from that year a different person than the one they were when they stepped through those double doors on their very first day. 

For some of them, like Patton, their change was almost unnoticeable, only noticeable in the extra pep in his step or the little smiles he now gave regardless of whether or not someone was looking. His change was mostly internal, a blink and you’d miss it realization. For Patton, junior year was about making an impact on others, and the impact it made on him. 

  
Patton was happier, if you could believe it. He felt more secure in who he was, how he felt, and what feelings he expressed. He was content, though that was never an issue, and he was content in his friend’s contentment. Patton made a difference to so many people that year, and in the end, that was what made all the difference to him. 

For Janus, the changes were more obvious. No longer the stuttering, shy boy he was on his first day, his change was impossible to miss. Now, he walked with an unmatched sort of confidence, daring to smile or glare or even stick his tongue out playfully at the other students. Then again, dating ‘the hottest boy in his year’ would help do that to a person. He learned that it was okay to snap back, that he could always rely on some people, even if others had ditched him in the past. He learned that trusting was okay, showing emotion was okay, and coming up and giving your boyfriend a huge kiss on the lips while he was showing some freshmen on a tour around the school was most definitely not okay, no matter how much he liked it at the time. 

For the first time in a while, Janus felt like he could relax. He was safe, he was loved, he was okay. He allowed himself to just be that, nothing more, nothing less. There was nothing wrong with being himself. And that was a fact that Janus desperately needed to learn. 

He learned that the best gossip was reserved for Friday nights, there was a certain kind of charm in defrosted pizzas ordered months ago and only reheated when a mother might need to feed, say, six hungry boys, and that said boys would always be there for him, through thick and thin. 

He learned the best way to put up with Remus’ antics, how Virgil wanted to be comforted when he was spiraling, how to respond to Patton’s affection with his own, and how to prepare the kind of tea Logan liked to drink while reading. And with time, he learned how to tell Roman that he loved him, and make sure that he knew just how true that statement really was. 

Logan learned that maybe, just maybe, emotions weren’t quite so bad after all. He’d already known the school material coming into the year, so it was good that he managed to walk away from the experience having learned at least one new thing. He learned that sometimes, the best thing that can happen to a person is them just breaking everything down that they’d built up around them and just letting those emotions overflow like water overtop the edge of a cup. Sometimes, feelings can lead to marvelous things, like seeing yourself in a new light, or forgiving yourself when you can’t see anything going right. 

  
Of course, he learned about the downsides of emotions as well, but he learned to take them in stride, to lean on others if need be, and to trust his gut, if only on occasion. 

He learned to open up to others, to Remus. He learned what made Remus tick, inside and out, and he learned exactly what strong friendship could do. He and Remus learned more about one another than they thought they ever would, a fact only made more impressive by their many years of friendship and already surprising catalog of knowledge of one another. 

Remus himself learned that there’s a time and a place, and sometimes, the situation you’re in the middle of is neither one of those. He learned that it’s okay to keep your mouth shut, but sometimes it’s more fun not to. And he found out that sometimes, if he reads the room properly, the best way to get kissed senseless is to open your mouth at the wrong time. 

Remus learned that he might be a better brother than he thought, and that when the chips were down, he might even be a bit of a mom friend. He learned not to discredit himself so quickly, and that his strengths were just as important and useful as any others in the group. Logan helped him learn that he was valued, a lesson that hit him harder than anything you could teach him in a class. And he loved him all the more for that. 

If you asked Virgil what he learned, he would claim that he didn’t learn jack shit this year. Junior year was just as miserable and boring as sophomore year had been, and that was that. He was just as grumpy, sarcastic, and pessimistic. His teachers were crap, and the actual lessons they taught him were equally crap. However, if you squinted, and I mean really squinted, you could see that Virgil had learned to soften. 

Not necessarily in a bad way. Virgil was always tough, a little bit rough around the edges. For the longest time, the only person he really opened up around was Patton. That all changed when he became a part of the group. He clicked into a place he never thought he would fit, a bit late to the party, but only fashionably so. Now, with Janus here, he got to relive his inauguration to the group, this time as one of those helping to make the other boy feel welcome. 

It was almost like deja vu, watching Janus slowly, like a baby bird emerging from its shell, poke cracks in his own walls until he finally felt safe enough to step out and join them. Virgil saw more of himself in Janus than he’d ever admit to the other boy. No reason to act overly sappy. 

Point being, Virgil knew just how important his friendships were ages before the beginning of junior year, but nothing set those ideas in stone quite so firmly as watching their effects right before his eyes. He knew there were two types of friends, friends born of convenience, and friends that didn’t care about convenience, and he knew without a doubt which side of the line his friends fell on. 

Roman liked to focus on the constants in his life. 

He had stopped growing two years ago, clocking in at five foot four and a half, rounded up to five foot five for convenience and pride. Friday nights were sleepover nights. His brother and best friend had been undeniably in love for years. Every year the school did two shows, a fall and a spring production. Patton’s eyes were light blue, whereas Logan’s were a darker, more stormy tone. Gatsby took vitamins with his dinner, but not his breakfast. Easy things, little things. Things that were givens, reliable and true to this day. 

Now, he had so many more givens he could add to his list. 

He loved Janus more than life itself. Hopefully, the other boy even loved him back! (He did.) He loved the little half smiles Roman spotted when Janus was amused and the even smaller smirk he sported when he was arguing with someone and knew he was right. He loved the way he looked when he was drowning in Roman’s jackets, sleeves pulled down so only the tips of his fingers poked out. He loved the way that Janus fiddled when he was concentrating, usually tugging at or spinning the now work yellow and black bracelet around his arm, or biting his lip when he got too sucked into whatever he was working on. 

He loved the way his hair glowed in the sun, the dyed blonde tips seeming to light up on their own, and he loved the sparkle in Janus’ eyes that seemed reserved for him and him alone. He loved the way his body fit under Roman’s arm during long movie nights, and the way he let out these little half snores when he inevitably fell asleep on Roman after their third or fourth movie. 

He loved the way that Janus’ lips tasted, the way his arms felt around his waist, and he loved every inch of the man he just knew he’d end up marrying if he had the chance to. 

More importantly, if that was even possible, Roman learned another thing; to love himself. 

He learned to accept the love that others gave to him, and he learned that that was okay, that he was allowed to love himself for who he was. He learned that his past didn’t define him, that just because he rushed into love doesn’t mean that he’s ever been incapable of real, requited infatuation. He learned that crushes aren’t to be held on a pedestal, lest they use you and lose you, and that just because he saw love all around himself didn’t mean that there was none left over for him.

They say that you have to learn to love yourself before you learn to love other people. 

Sometimes it just takes the right person to help you realize that you’re allowed to love yourself for who you are. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is it, huh? The final chapter, the last hurrah, the end of all-
> 
> Just kidding guys!! Since I love this AU more than life itself and it's been such an amazing time just writing and putting all of these chapters for you guys, I'm going to be taking requests for this AU! Was there a moment between characters you really wished you could have seen? More fluffy dates? Anything you wanted to see a character's reaction to? Go ahead, ask me! If I actually get any, I'll like them to this work via just making this work a part of a series. If there are a lot, I might not get to them all, especially since I'll be writing more chapters of Puppeteer now that the main fic slot is open, but I'll definitely do my best! :D
> 
> While I have you here, I just want to take another moment to say thank you. I know I've said it in practically every chapter and you've probably heard it from me a million times over, but I couldn't have asked for a better, sweeter, more awesome audience. You guys don't know it (or you do because I was telling you this like 24/7) but you guys really do make my day and there's nothing more to it than that. I can't believe how much excitement and support you guys met this whole thing with, and it really, honestly just blew me away. I started this chapter by saying that junior year was a wild ride, but damn just writing this and seeing how excited all of you got was a wild ride all by itself. You guys are the best, seriously, never forget it. 
> 
> Stay awesome <3
> 
> -Ginger

**Author's Note:**

> I hope some of your sadness has left after you! :( POF destroyed me and I just had to write some Roceit (was planning on just stuffing it in my oneshots but figured why not make it a full story!) and I hope it helps. 
> 
> Quarentine is rough and I don't have anyone to talk Sanders Sides with lol, drop a comment with how you felt about the most recent episode? :)


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